Southern Libya may become battleground between forces of competing governments

The Defense Ministry of the UN-brokered Libyan Government of National Accord(GNA) announced today that a new military operation titled Awaited Hope would fight forces loyal to the eastern commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

Spokesperson for the Ministry Mohammed al-Ghasrisaid the operation was aimed at eradicating the forces of Mohammed Ben Nayel, who is loyal to Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army of the east-based House of Representatives(HoR) government. Just four days ago, Ben Nayel militants attacked the Third Force, loyal to the GNA at the Tamnihint air base in Sabha.

Last Thursday, Misrata Political Bloc, a group of Misrata city MPès and politicians requested the Presdidency Council (PC) of the GNA to crush the operations of Haftar in the south. Haftar operations are often referred to as Operation Dignity, and they are meant to clear out all Islamist opponents of Haftar from Libya. The operation began in May of 2014. The Misrta group said that immediate action had become imperative. Preparations to send troops south were said to be in full swing.

Meanwhile, the Operations Room of the Presidential Council's air force said in a statement that last Wednesday their warplanes had responded to air attacks of Dignity Operation on the Third Force positions and personnel at Timnahent air base. The Operations Room said that fighter aircraft had targeted warplanes of the Dignity Operation that were at the Barak Al-Sahtea air base.

Colonel Mohammed Ganono reading from the statement said: "This is a message for all those who cherish messing with the fortunes of the Libyans or acting away from the legitimate Government of National Accord. The die is cast. Our air force will no longer tolerate such actions by Dignity Operation command and our personnel and warplanes will target any illegal movements across the entire country." Early Wednesday morning Dignity Operation fighter aircraft had bombed locations around the Tamniint airbase according to Third Force commander Jamal al-Treki. He confirmed that the group had engaged in heavy clashes with Ben Nayel's forces.

The commander of the DIgnity Operation in the region, Shareef Al-Awami, threatened to attack Misrata airbase if any more attacks were made on the Barak Al-Shatea air base. Al-Awami said: “We have the ability to intercept and down their L-39 jet fighters". The Brak Al-Sahti air base is about 60 kilometers north of Sabha a main city in southwestern Libya.

The radical group Benghazi Defense Brigades(BDB or SDB)) have decided that they will turn over the Jufra air base to central government forces creating a situation where there could be more clashes with Haftar forces. A tweet notes: "#Libya- #SDB statement on willingness to handover Jufrah Airbase to "General Staff of the Libyan Army" (#GNA-#Misrata)"

The prime minister of the eastern-based rival HoR government, Abdullah al-Thinni, has now rejected the view of international leaders, including the UN envoy Martin Kobler, that dialogue is the only way forward and there is no military solution. Al-Thinni insists that divisions in the country can only be resolved by military means. This is the position of Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar as well. An outright civil war is in danger of starting.

As Trump chages course Bannon lose influence to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

The decision to bomb a Syrian airbase as punishment for a gas attack near Idblib Syria that Trump blamed on Assad, shows the declining power of Stephen Bannon within the Trump administration while Jared Kushner Trump's son-in-law's power is increasing.

Only a few days ago, the Trump administration had announced that its goal was not to remove Assad but after the chemical attack Trump blamed Assad almost immediately even before there was any investigation. We still do not even know what exactly the chemical was or who carried out the attack but it is now simply assumed that the US position is correct as most US allies follow the US narrative. On Thursday evening, concurrent with his meeting with the Chinese premier, Trump announced he had launched an attack on a Syrian air base using Tomahawk missiles. It is said to be the airbase from which the chemical attacks were launched. In spite of the fact that the attack was against international law, US allies and most other countries have simply accepted the attack as justified. The lack of critical response shows that much of the world for the most part is willing to go along with the US as being judge, jury, executioner and global moral policeman.

Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist apparently argued against the attack. He argued that the attack was a complete reversal from his campaign promises to be non-interventionist. He also saw it as counter to Trump's America First message. Bannon does not think the US belongs in such areas as Syria. He calls Jared Kushner who argued that Assad must be punished, a globalist while he is a nationalist. During the campaign Bannon and Kushner are said to have had a close relationship but now that has changed as the two clash over the direction of the Trump's agenda.

Some in the press have called this a personality conflict but Bannon insists it is a difference with regard to policies. Bannon told an associate: “The press is calling it fighting, we call it debating.” Bannon has a board in his office showing all the promises Trump made while Kushner seems less interested in keeping them. A recent article claims there are two distinct camps in the Trump administration:On one side are “the nationalists” Bannon, Stephen Miller, and Julia Hahn; and on the other are “the Democrats” Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and Gary Cohn. Bannon is growing increasingly frustrated with Cohn, sources say, and is particularly unhappy to be receiving much of the blame for the health-care debacle while Cohn, who was deeply involved in the effort, emerged unscathed. Health care was “100 percent Gary,” one person close to Bannon said. During a recent White House meeting, when the subject of Cohn came up, Bannon reportedly told associates “I love a gunfight.”

You might think that Bannon is just using "Democrat" as a pejorative term. Not so, both Ivanka, Jared's wife and daughter of Trump and he himself are not Republicans. Kushner is a Democrat:Neither of them are Republicans. She is an independent and called Chelsea Clinton a friend. He is a Democrat whose dad, Charles, was a big time donor to the Democratic Party, including Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign.Bannon in a recent complaint about why he could not find middle ground with Kushner on the other side may be literally telling the truth: " Thick with tension, the conversation this week between Stephen K. Bannon, the chief White House strategist, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, had deteriorated to the point of breakdown. Finally, Mr. Bannon identified why they could not compromise, according to someone with knowledge of the conversation. “Here’s the reason there’s no middle ground,” Mr. Bannon growled, “You’re a Democrat.”

Gary Cohn, the other opponent mentioned by Bannon is one of the Wall Street creatures imported by Trump to bring new life to the Washington Swamp he pledged to drain. As with many in the Trump cabinet he is well-heeled: "His severance package at Goldman Sachs amounted to $285 million.[12] Additionally, Cohn sold a stake valued at $16 million in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank as of 2017.[13]" Cohn was formerly the president and CEO of Goldman Sachs. Even though he is a registered Republican and not a Democrat he cannot seem to find a middle ground with Bannon!

The Trump policy is becoming much like that of Democratic hawks such as Clinton who herself suggested that Trump should bomb Assad's airbases. Those supporters of Trump who saw him as extricating the US from foreign wars must now realize that he is in fact as interventionist as Clinton would have been and has shown not the slightest interest in detente with Russia as he had promised. The future looks to be filled with more tension, extension of the Syrian civil war and possibly new conflicts such as in North Korea.