U.S. Claims Egypt and UAE Launched Airstrikes in Libya

Egypt and the United Arab Emirates launched secret airstrikes against Islamist militias in Libya twice over the past week according to senior U.S. officials, without consulting the United States. The officials said the UAE supplied warplanes, pilots, and refueling planes while Egypt provided bases from which the strikes were launched. Egypt has denied involvement and the UAE has not commented. The United States is concerned external involvement in Libya could escalate violence. Officials said Qatar has already been supplying weapons to Islamist militias. According to the United States, strikes targeted Islamist-held positions in Tripoli on August 18 and early Saturday. Nonetheless, Libya Dawn, an alliance of militias including Islamist groups and militias from Misrata seized Tripoli’s international airport on Saturday from rival Zintani militias. Following the move, the General National Congress, the Libyan parliament that was replaced in an election in June, reconvened and installed an Islamist-backed prime minister. On Monday, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and Britain issued a joint statement denouncing outside interference and calling on all parties to accept a cease-fire and participate in the democratic process.

Syria

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said his government is ready to "cooperate and coordinate" in the fight against Islamic State militants but warned that any strikes conducted without the consent of the Syrian government would be "considered aggression." U.S. officials said on Monday that they are preparing military options to combat the Islamic State "both in Iraq and Syria." The United States has begun manned and unmanned surveillance flights over Syria, a move that President Barack Obama approved over the weekend. The administration said it did not plan to notify the Syrian government of the flights.

Headlines  

• Israel destroyed two Gaza City towers Tuesday meanwhile Egypt has proposed a new cease-fire deal, which includes the opening of Gaza’s crossings.
• Two car bombs hit a Shiite district in Baghdad a day after a suicide bomber struck a mosque and Haider al-Abadi, Iraq’s prime minister-designate, called for national unity.
• Houthi rebels presented new demands to the Yemeni government Monday as tens of thousands of demonstrators continued to protest in Sanaa after talks broke down on Sunday.
• A Texas court has thrown out an order to seize $100 million cargo of Kurdish oil currently offshore potentially paving the way for delivery to the United States.

Arguments and Analysis

‘ISIS and the New Middle East Cold War‘ (F. Gregory Gause, III, The Brookings Institution)

"ISIS has not emerged as the force it is because it has a government behind it. It has become largely self-funding, earning revenue from banditry, protection rackets, control of trade routes and taking over lucrative assets like oil refineries and gas stations. It recruits broadly, in the Middle East and North Africa and globally, its very success spurring jihadists and sympathizers to join it. It is extremely well organized and disciplined. One of its great strengths at the propaganda level is that it is not the client of a foreign power. It can honestly represent itself to the Syrian and Iraqi Sunnis whom it governs and upon whom it relies for support (whether active cooperation or passive acceptance) as a guardian of their interests against the sectarian governments in Damascus and Baghdad.

The independence of ISIS, at once a great strength of the organization, is also a weakness. It has the unique ability to unite most of the players in the new Middle East cold war against it. Iran and Iran’s allies detest it because of its fiercely anti-Shia ideology. The Saudis fear it as a potential domestic threat, turning Salafism into a revolutionary political ideology rather than the pro-regime bulwark it has usually been in Saudi Arabia. Turkey, the Kurds, the United States, the EU and Russia all stand to lose if ISIS wins. Its recent successes have led a reluctant Obama administration to re-engage militarily in Iraq and the Iranians to push out Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister of Iraq. Washington, Tehran, Baghdad, Irbil, Ankara, Damascus and Riyadh find themselves with parallel, if not identical interests when dealing with ISIS. In the end, the group’s undoubted talent in creating enemies for itself will probably do it in, not just among outside powers but also among the very people whom it claims to champion."

— Mary Casey