Haftar’s Bid to Take Tripoli Ends as Last Bastion in West Falls

Source:Bloomberg Date:06Jun2020

Well, it is a victory of sorts for Turkey

Libya’s internationally recognized government said on Friday it had taken the remaining stronghold of Khalifa Haftar in the country’s west, effectively ending with Turkish military support an offensive by the Russian-backed strongman to capture the capital.

The fall of Tarhouna came after a month of advances that forced the commander’s self-styled Libyan National Army to fall back from around Tripoli, along with hundreds of Russian mercenaries. After meetings in Cairo on Thursday, Haftar’s spokesman announced his forces would redeploy and rejoin United Nations-sponsored cease-fire talks with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.

The events cap a dramatic reversal for Haftar, who launched the war in April 2019 claiming to be best placed to unite a fractured Libya and defeat the Islamists he said propped up the government of Premier Fayaz al-Sarraj. He won backing from Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and appeared poised to take the capital until a full-throttled Turkish military intervention turned the tide.