Washington’s Noose Around “Haftar’s” Neck To Prevent Him From Slipping

The maneuvers and provocations carried out by retired General Khalifa Haftar have brought Libya back to the forefront as a country threatening stability in the Maghreb region, especially the Sahel region, which has been suffering for years from security fragility that has brought traditional colonial powers to the region to steal and plunder its precious wealth.
Following the suspicious movements of the Libyan general who rebelled against the internationally recognized government of Abdul Hamid Debaiba, and who moved his militias towards the southwestern borders adjacent to Algeria and Niger, the United States of America began efforts aimed at containing any escalation in the region, and preventing him  from joining the current major crises, such as the situation in the Middle East, the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the situation in Sudan.
In this regard, the US Special Envoy to Libya, Richard Norland, met in Tunisia with Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar on Monday, and there he stated that Washington rejects “the imposition of solutions by force by any party,” in a clear reference to the retired Libyan general’s attempts to impose his agenda by force and attempt to expand his influence in Libya at the expense of the internationally recognized government.
The movements of Khalifa Haftar’s militias, which are based in eastern Libya, aim to besiege the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and attempt to encircle it by extending their influence to the south, with the support of some countries, most notably Egypt, the Emirates and Russia.
This is evident from the Egyptian authorities’ reception of the head of the internationally unrecognized eastern Libyan government, Osama Hamad, and Tripoli’s response by expelling Egyptian diplomats.
The United States of America does not recognize Khalifa Haftar as the commander of the Libyan army, but rather as “the leader of a militia operating outside the law”, while it views the unity government headed by Abdul Hamid Debaiba as the only legitimate government in Libya, and therefore it believes that what Haftar and those who move him behind the scenes are doing is aimed at undermining the legitimate authorities in Tripoli, and trying to force one party to impose solutions on the other party in defiance of what the international community has agreed upon.
The movements of the US Special Envoy to Libya coincided with Algerian-Nigerian movements, represented by an official visit led by the Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance of the State of Niger, Ali Muhammad Lamine Zein, to Algeria, during which he delivered a written message to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune from the head of the Military Council in Niger, Abd al-Rahman Tiani, which indicates the existence of Algerian-Nigerian-Tunisian-Americancoordination to contain the unrest that some regional and international parties want to sow in the region.
Although Khalifa Haftar’s movements are beyond his control, as he is driven by parties known for their maneuvers, the United States of America has pressure cards on the leader of the eastern Libyan militia that he cannot resist, namely his involvement in extrajudicial killings along with his children.
Haftar was convicted in the summer of 2022 by the American judiciary, which obliged him to pay compensation to Libyan families accusing him of committing torture and extrajudicial executions, and he was also accused of not cooperating with the judiciary. It is known that crimes of torture and extrajudicial killing do not expire by statute of limitations, which makes Haftar and his children subject to arrest at any moment, just as happened with his son Saddam last week in Italy, when he was arrested while he was about to leave Italian territory.