U.S. moves 200 troops to Sicily as precaution
WASHINGTON — Alarmed by developments in Libya, the United States this week moved 200 troops to a base in Sicily so that they could respond more quickly if it becomes necessary to evacuate the embassy in Tripoli, two administration officials said.
The move is the latest acknowledgment from the Obama administration that three years after a NATO bombing campaign helped topple the government of Moammar Gadhafi, conditions in the oil-producing country are deteriorating and security concerns that previously were confined to Benghazi and Libya’s east have spread to Tripoli, the capital, and the country’s west.
Of special concern is that Islamist militias could easily close Tripoli’s airport, complicating any effort to evacuate U.S. diplomats if the situation
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deteriorates further. Militias also are in position to seize control of Libya’s other airports, including the one in Benghazi, where militants in 2012 attacked U.S. diplomatic facilities, killing four Americans including the ambassador, Chris Stevens.
The fluidity of the security situation in Tripoli played out again yesterday, as Algeria reportedly sent in members of its special forces and a military plane to evacuate its ambassador and staff after militants threatened them.
Since the attacks on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, there have been a number of kidnappings and assassinations of diplomats and other leaders in Tripoli, including the prime minister, Ali Zaidan, who subsequently resigned and fled the country.
Key members of the government that replaced Zaidan’s, including the deputy intelligence chief, Mustafa Noah, have been kidnapped as well.
But the apparent impetus for the U.S. troop movement was the release this week of Jordan’s ambassador to Libya, Fawaz al-Itan, after 28 days as a hostage, possibly in exchange for Jordan’s release from jail of a top Libyan Islamist. Officials fear the deal might encourage more kidnappings.
The central government’s lack of control over its fragmented military was never more evident than yesterday, when fierce fighting gripped Benghazi after a key commander in the 2011 uprising, Gen. Khalifa Hifter, commandeered government troops and air power to attack Islamist militias. It was the worst fighting there in three years.
The central government said it had not authorized the attack by Hifter, who was a well-known commander during Libya’s incursion into neighboring Chad in the 1980s but left Libya and lived in northern Virginia for years before returning as the anti-Gadhafi rebellion gained momentum.
As many as 24 people were killed and dozens wounded in yesterday’s fighting, during which Hifter’s forces captured the western entrance to the city from Ansar al-Shariah, the largest militant group in Libya. Ansar al-Shariah members are thought to have been responsible for the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed Stevens.