Libya

[LoneHorseman]

^^^^
Interesting to see what Salvini might do, if his party and subsequent coalition gets into power. In the past, he has attacked France for aiding Haftar in his siege of Tripoli and causing an influx of Jihadists illegally crossing into Italy and for his disgust of Turkey for their role in blackmailing Europe in threatening to send millions of illegals throughout the continent. An interesting dichotomy for Salvini concerning his disdain for Turkey and his own nations interests, be it economically or most important for him, a stabilization of immigrant influx coming in from Libya

[Don Giovanni]

With Egypt now in the fold, Greece has no reason not to send some units into Libya. They can effectively make life sooooo much harder for Turkey to pump Libya up with more jihadis and would make the naval aspect of this whole thing a nightmare. Greek submarines and naval assets could turn this into an almost impossible fight for Turkey. Does Mitsotakis have the balls for that?

I think after the humiliation of being left out of diplomatic conferences and having Italy stab us in the back, yes Greece must get involved in some kind of capacity, even if it's a very limited capacity. No other country but Turkey will commit military support to the GNA. The time is now.

[Reaper]

Ottomans punish Italy for making a EEZ agreement with Greece:

https://twitter.com/LNA2019M/status/...Cw9c7YnKIjAAAA

[tantra]

[Filikieteria1821]

tantra the operation you linked was done under operation irini, which for all intents and purposes, is a mere political facade put up by the EU. There are 20 countries part of this operation, yet no one has sent a ship, except Greece.

It is a damn shame and of course one greek frigate would get waved off by 3 turkish frigates.

But the tides may be turning as Egypt's call for peace, while backing same up with actual arms ready to go at the border of Libya. Egypt's proposal has received praise by all really, except the GNA/Turkey.

Furthermore, apparently the GNA has kidnapped some 200 egyptians who were found in Libyan territories under GNA control.

France took it a step further by publicly calling out Turkey and requesting NATO have a summit to speak about Turkey's actions and the breaking of the UN accords. The east med is heating up and Greece can cement it's stances by securing an EEZ deal with Egypt on June 18th, when Dendias will be going to Egypt. Furthermore, I believe I came across an article stating that Greece and Israel are about to sign an agreement that would see a huge Israeli play in Greece's defense industry.

I believe Greece can make up for years of terrible foreign policy decisions if it acts aggressively and decisvely with EEZ agreements with Egypt, as well as defense contracts that would see immediate sales to Greece. I know greece is set to receive some bradley tanks from the US, but Greece needs more armed drones, to send some force to the LNA, and to form a military alliance with egypt that would effectively form a block on Turkish ships.

[Reaper]

Operation Irini finally makes a statement! Sadly it is a pro Erdogan anti Haftar statement..

European Operation "Irini" Commanders: We have monitored the arrival of military planes from the eastern Mediterranean to a base near Benghazi.

Italians have played this one brilliantly.

[JVC]

Operation Irini finally makes a statement! Sadly it is a pro Erdogan anti Haftar statement..

European Operation "Irini" Commanders: We have monitored the arrival of military planes from the eastern Mediterranean to a base near Benghazi.

Italians have played this one brilliantly.

https://www.ekathimerini.com/253761/...-joint-message

Israel on board with Greece....sent joint message that they're violating international law, and causing instability in the region. Also reading Turkish media reports....that Russia now will be active in Libya, they suspect the green light is from Trump. As it looking, its seems Turkey's aggressive behavior is building up opposition from super power nations. Greece at this point is playing the cards right....make Turkey look aggressive and threatening, we get support and launch strategic political attacks to strengthen our interests.

[Filikieteria1821]

Two important developments in relation to Libya - France is pulling its participation in the NATO Sea Guardian initiative which is based in the east med after NATO would not back France's version of the events that took place where Turkish ships locked on to French ships - threatening to sink them.

Nikos Dendias visited Libya today and met with President Aguila Saleh. Per @Lyobserver on twitter, "Libya's Tobruk-based parliament said it has agreed with the Greek government to form a committee to demarcate the maritime borders between them after a visit by Greek foreign minister Nikos Dendias to Tobruk today"

Are we going to see Greece follow France's lead and start to disengage itself from NATO as a protest to Turkey's continued provocations? France could use another european member of NATO to raise the stakes a bit.

Additionally, are we going to finally see Mitsotakis use Greek forces as a peace keeping force, that joins with Egypt who can send actual troops to Sirte to defend against any Turkish attack?

Erdogan said 3 weeks ago he would be attacking sirte and he hasn't and I reckon it's because he's taking Egypt's threat seriously - or he's waiting a bit more to beef up the GNA more.

[Filikieteria1821]

Further to my above comment, Dendias stated Greece wants to open up an embassy in Benghazi

[Filikieteria1821]

Not confirmed but per @LibyanAddressJo "Breaking - Libya & Greece sign a maritime border agreement, which will be endorsed by parliaments in both countries soon"

Would be a fantastic play here, but do not think this really solves much as Erdogan and his forces are firmly implanted in Libya and will need to be forced out

[Filikieteria1821]

Over the weekend, Erdogan got a nice smack as his forces were surprise attacked at Al-Watiya.

Sources have yet to pinpoint who launched the attacks but rumors are swirling that the attacks were carried out by the UAE.

Turks have sworn there will be retribution but catching them flat footed is a beautiful thing. Let's hope these attacks continue and let's hope the Turks are dumb enough to push forth

[Don Giovanni]

It now appears that Turkey will milk Libya economically. The AP report says Ankara has given Tripoli a bill of $1.7 billion for money owed to Turkish companies.

A role in oil and offshore energy and then military bases will likely come next. Tripoli appears to be concerned that it is becoming another colony of Ankara, similar to the instability Turkey unleashed in northern Syria, where local voices become subservient to its whims but have little control over their own destiny.

When Libyans realize the deal their government has cut in order to be saved against Haftar's forces, what will they think?

[Don Giovanni]

The two leaders also addressed ways to achieve a complete withdrawal of foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya, and stressed the need to enable the National Oil Corporation to resume its vital work.

The phone call was followed by a visit from US Ambassador Richard Norland to senior Turkish officials in Ankara, where they discussed "the urgent need to support Libyan voices genuinely seeking an end to the conflict and return to UN-facilitated political dialogue, with full respect for Libya's sovereignty and territorial integrity", the US embassy said in a statement on Wednesday.

(emphasis mine)

[Don Giovanni]

A whole lot of nothing will come this.

[Reaper]

Turks need a demilitarized zone quickly to cement their gains.

[Don Giovanni]

Erdogan says he's upset, but no doubt the next one will be a puppet of theirs no less.