The role played by Russia through the armed Wagner Company in Libya, which has been involved for more than a year in the aggression against Tripoli, and the support of Haftar militias with the bombing of residential neighborhoods in Tripoli and other cities of the Libyan West, especially after they fled to the city of Bani Walid in broad daylight, began to surface.
This Russian intervention, which appeared to be strong and not, as Moscow claims, seemed to bother Washington, so the commander of the American forces in Africa, “Africom” “Stephen Townsend,” came out stating that Russia was trying to turn the scales in its favor in Libya using the government-backed “Wagner” group despite Russia’s attempt to deny this. .
“Townsend”, in a statement of the “AFRICOM” on its official website, confirmed that Haftar announced the launch of a new air campaign using pilots of Russian mercenaries to fly the aircrafts that Russia provided him to bomb Libya, explaining that Russia is not interested in what is best for the Libyan people, but is working to Achieve their strategic goals instead.
The AFRICOM statement stated that Russian military aircraft provide air support and offensive strikes for the Russian “Wagner” group supporting Haftar, and that these Russian combat aircraft arrived in Libya, flying from an air base in Russia through Syria, where they were repainted there to camouflage their Russian origin.
Direct intervention
On this issue, the writer and political analyst Abdullah Al-Kabeer said that Russia is heading towards an escalation, but it is interesting that AFRICOM has noted that the intervention has become direct and this means that there is an expected reaction from the United States of America.
In a statement to Arraed, Al-Kabeer added that the continuation of the war in Libya serves the interest of Russia, which is still working to blackmail Westerners with expansion in the Mediterranean, indicating that the Syrian scenario is looming on the horizon, and the proxy war in Libya will witness direct interference from the international forces fighting over vital areas of influence.
Bolder American moves
Egyptian analyst interested in the Libyan issue, Alaa Farouk, saw that a change in the American diplomatic and military discourse towards the Libyan file was noticed recently, and this bears a new indication of interest from Washington in the Libyan crisis.
Farouk added to Arraed that since the emergence of the Wagner Crisis, the United States has been trying to disgrace the Russians by proving their involvement in the Libyan war, which is what the American intelligence services tried to prove, show and leak to the media there, and it was recently documented by the GNA after the fleeing of these mercenaries from the city of Bani Waleed.
Farouk expected that there would be more bold American steps inside Libya – perhaps with the support of Ankara and its presence there – to cut off the road on Russians and their military ally, “Haftar”
It may interpret into political stance
For his part, the press writer Ali Abuzayd said that the American stance began to emerge from a state of turning a blind eye and leaving the space for the countries that support Haftar, an important partner of Washington in other regional files.
Abuzayd considered in a statement to Arraed that the AFRICOM statement is a warning to the White House administration about the growing Russian presence in Libya, adding that he believes that the “disturbed and frank” tone against the Russian presence may be reflected and interpreted into political stance that pressure the UAE and support the reconciliation government, and behind its Turkish ally.
