Washington tries to prevent Russia, Turkey from seizing Libya; Babacan accuses Erdogan of destroying Turkey

On Wednesday morning, Arab press touched upon to the American position on what is happening in Libya and Syria, in addition to targeting the commanders of ISIS mercenaries, and to the internal Turkish situation.

Al-Arab: An American concern about the repetition of the Syrian scenario in Libya

Arab newspapers issued this morning dealt with the Syrian issue and several issues, the most prominent of which was the American position on the Libyan and Syrian developments. In this context, the Arab newspaper said, "mounting American statements expressed a real Western concern about the repetition of the scenarios of Ukraine and Syria in Libya, and that the Russians are determined not to missing the strategic opportunity to be on the southern fringes of Europe.

"It is clear that Russia is trying to tip the scales in its favor in Libya as it saw it doing in Syria," AFRICOM statement quoted US Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the African-American Command, as saying.

"If Russia takes over a base on the Libyan coast, the next logical step is to deploy permanent, long-range capabilities to prevent access to Africa," said US Air Force General Jeff Harigian, commander of the US Air Force in the European Air Force.

"If that day comes, it will create very real security concerns on the southern flank of Europe, and Russia's destabilizing actions in Libya will exacerbate regional instability that will exacerbate the migration crisis that will affect Europe," he added.

Some see the focus of US statements on European security and the issue of immigrants as messages to urge NATO to intervene.

Although the Libyan civil war seems to be a war between rival factions over sharing the vast resources of Libya, the international dimension has always been present since NATO decided to intervene and help topple the rule of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Gulf and European countries, in addition to Turkey and Egypt, have interfered at different levels since the outbreak of the conflict in its last form in 2014 against the background of the lack of justice in the distribution of wealth among the components of the Libyan people, where Misurata alliance and the Islamists take possession of the entire wealth, but the recent Turkish intervention and recruiting of military and technical capabilities exceptional levels have raised the levels of regional and international conflict, and it seems that they will accelerate the transformation from a proxy war to a confrontation between major global players.

The recent field developments reflect the validity of the news since last January regarding a Russian-Turkish agreement to share influence in Libya, where the western and southern regions will be the share of the Turks, while Barqa and the central region (Sirte and oil ports) will be the share of the Russians.

In addition to the army's withdrawal from important locations in western Libya, especially al-Wattia base, and the loss of its control over the coastal strip cities, media reports have spoken, based on statements by the mayor of the city of Bani Walid Salem Nweir, who is close to the Islamists, about the withdrawal of fighters from the Wagner Group from the fighting hubs in southern Tripoli to al-Jafra area through the city's airport.

However, what aggravates the United States' concern is the arrival of Russian fighter planes that enabled the army during the past few days to regain control of Libyan airspace after the jamming devices and the Turkish defense system crippled the hovering drone that was reliable in the air battle.

The AFRICOM statement said that "neither the forces of eastern Libya nor the mercenaries will be able to 'arm and operate' those fighters without support from Russia."

These developments raise Washington's fears that these steps will be the beginning of establishing a permanent Russian presence in the central region of Libya, the region that receives US attention, where AFRICOM participated in 2016 with air strikes on ISIS in Sirte.

Libyan political analyst Muhammad al-Jarrah said that the Americans are trying to prevent the Turkish-Russian acquisition of the Libyan file because of the risk to their national security.

Al-Ain: Moataz al-Jubouri ... "Death Engineer" in ISIS, killed by an American raid

Regarding the Iraqi issue, Al-Ain newspaper said, "Although he moved with great caution between Iraq and Syria, the prominent commander of the terrorist ISIS, Moataz al-Jubouri, who is described as" Death Engineer", was unable to escape from the international coalition’s aircraft that targeted him with an air raid in Syria.

On Tuesday, the Anti-Terrorism Service in Iraq announced the killing of the terrorist Moataz Numan Abdul Nayef Najm al-Jubouri is named (al-Hajji Tayseer), who occupies the position of the so-called governor of Iraq, and the assistant terrorist leader of ISIS for all state affairs, and is responsible for planning and coordinating external terrorist operations.

The anti-terrorist agency said in a statement: "After a not-so-brief follow-up to the terrorist's dangerous movements and his permanent movement inside and outside Iraq, he was targeted by the international coalition aircraft in the Syrian governorate of Deir-ez-Zor, according to accurate intelligence information from the anti-terrorist agency."

Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: Babacan: Erdogan destroyed Turkey's democracy

Turkey, Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper said, "Ali Babacan, head of the opposition Turkish" Democracy and Progress "party and former ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused the latter of destroying democracy and eradicating the independence of the judiciary and Turkey's reputation abroad.

This came as a comment from Babacan, during a television interview yesterday, on the rumors that the ruling Justice and Development Party, headed by Erdogan, and his ally, the National Movement Party, headed by Dolat Bahceli, are seeking to amend the election and political parties' laws to prevent his party, and the "Future" party founded by the Prime Minister. The former Ahmed Davutoglu from entering the parliament, after the Republican Peoples' Party, the largest opposition party, announced his willingness to transfer a number of his deputies in parliament to the two new parties to be able to enter Parliament.

"No matter what games which are planned, regardless of changing the rules of the game, as long as the strength, support, and will of the people remain," Babacan, who was one of the founders of the ruling Justice and Development Party, took charge of foreign affairs and negotiations with the European Union, the economy and deputy prime minister for economic affairs. Behind us, we do not recognize any obstacle ahead.

T/S

ANHA