The Pentagon Is Trying to Blame Shot Down of Its Drone Over Libya on Russia

The Russian mercenary boogeyman strikes just in time for AFRICOM's efforts at relevancy

Phil Stewart 8 Dec 19 1051 2

*Country torn to pieces by NATO assault on its state, and years of civil war with NATO backing *both sides*, but it’s mythical “malign Russian influence” which threatens it*

Editor’s note: America’s AFRICOM trying to make a big deal out of a fact its drone flying over Libya (is Libya some kind of Pentagon property??) was shot down, most likely by Libyans. Specifically one of the factions in the country’s ongoing civil war. — In fact it’s the faction Trump has recently switched his support to.

But this is supposedly a big deal because the weapons used to bring the drone down were Russian/Soviet-made (as you would expect as that is where Ghaddafi was sourcing its weapons from). So the Pentagon is claiming that the air defense crew was *possibly* made up of Russian mercenaries and insinuating that therefore Moscow is somehow ultimately responsible.

In reality private Russian mercenaries have been a feature of Africa’s wars since the early 1990s (the Ethiopia-Eritrea war comes to mind) but this has never before meant Moscow’s involvement. Instead, including in Syria, they have always been private adventurists hired by the local government and not paid from Moscow’s coffers.

In fact it is perverse that the shoot down of a US drone by Haftar’s forces should somehow be the responsibility of the Russians when Haftar is primarily backed by UAE, Egypt and France all of whom are Washington’s client-states. If Haftar used Emirati and Saudi money to hire himself some Russian mercenaries then that is on UAE, Macron, and on Trump, not on the Kremlin.

Libya has been a giant NATO on NATO, and US-client on US-client mess (Turkey, Italy and Qatar back Tripoli; Egypt, UAE, and more recently France and Saudi Arabia, back Haftar.) but there is little benefit in highlighting that, so AFRICOM is trying to pretend it is somehow a US vs Russia front when actually neither Moscow’s nor Washington’s involvement is particularly deep, and besides since Trump’s pro-Haftar turn they are both partial to the same side.

Some other Libya headlines that explain the situation and underscore the point:

The last one is particularly pertinent explaining that Emirati and Turkish technicians have been fighting a drone war against each other in Libya which has included strikes on airstrips and deaths of the technicians on the ground.

Of course in such circumstances both sides of the civil war are going to be quick on the trigger finger and fire at any drone that is not theirs. The sense of US military entitlement that they should get to fly over somebody else’s civil war and be absolutely safe in the knowledge they will not be fired upon is stunning.

What is really at play here is that the ugly duckling of Pentagon commands that is AFRICOM is trying to make itself more relevant, while the Tripoli government is trying to rekindle fading outside support by exaggerating Haftar’s ties to Russia, and the mainstream media pretends to be dumb and uncritically echoes all the accusations because it fits its own malign Russia narative.

For the past month Turkey and UAE have been fighting a very active drone war against each other in Libya so if a US drone went down Haftar-held territory the simplest explanation is that it was

The U.S. military believes that an unarmed American drone reported lost near Libya’s capital last month was in fact shot down by Russian air defenses [Weasel language which makes it sound it was the Russian military.] and it is demanding the return of the aircraft’s wreckage, U.S. Africa Command says.

Such a shootdown would underscore Moscow’s increasingly muscular role [totally unsubstantiated] in the energy-rich nation, where Russian mercenaries are reportedly intervening [“reportedly”] on behalf of east Libya-based commander Khalifa Haftar in Libya’s civil war.

Haftar has [with the backing of a score of US allies and the White House itself] sought to take the capital Tripoli, now held by Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA).

U.S. Army General Stephen Townsend, who leads Africa command, said he believed the operators of the air defenses at the time “didn’t know it was a U.S. remotely piloted aircraft when they fired on it.”

“But they certainly know who it belongs to now and they are refusing to return it. They say they don’t know where it is but I am not buying it,” Townsend told Reuters in a statement, without elaborating. [What’s the value in getting back pieces of a blown up drone? There isn’t one. This is merely about trying to create a problem and a standoff.]

The U.S. assessment, which has not been previously disclosed, concludes that either Russian private military contractors or Haftar’s so-called Libyan National Army were operating the air defenses [They actually admit they don’t have a clue and it could have easily (and more likely) simply been Haftar’s own men.] at the time the drone was reported lost on Nov. 21, said Africa Command spokesman Air Force Colonel Christopher Karns.

Karns said the United States believed the air defense operators fired on the U.S. aircraft after “mistaking it for an opposition” drone.

An official in Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) told Reuters that Russian mercenaries appeared to be responsible.

Russian authorities deny using military contractors in any foreign military theater and say any Russian civilians who may be fighting abroad are volunteers. The LNA denies it has foreign backing.

One current and one former Russian contractor told Reuters that since September the LNA had received ground support from several hundred private military contractors from a Russian group.

Military officials linked to the GNA and Western diplomats have also confirmed the presence of Russian contractors in Libya.

TIPPING THE BALANCE

Haftar, who claims to be fighting to rid Tripoli of Islamist-leaning armed groups, has received support from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and, most recently, from Russian mercenaries, according to diplomats and Tripoli officials.

Frederic Wehrey, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the Russians’ contributions of advanced capabilities — everything from snipers to precision weaponry — could be felt on the battlefield, boosting the morale of Haftar’s forces.

“It’s giving Haftar a real technological edge,” said Wehrey, who recently returned from Libya.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, in an interview with Reuters earlier this week, declined to comment directly on the drone but said he believed Russia was trying to “put their finger on the scale” in Libya’s civil war to create a situation that was advantageous to Moscow.

Townsend voiced deep concern about Russia’s growing role in the country, including how it would affect Libya’s “territorial sovereignty and AFRICOM’s counter-terrorism mission.”

“This highlights the malign influence of Russian mercenaries acting to influence the outcome of the civil war in Libya, and who are directly responsible for the recent and sharp increase in fighting, casualties and destruction around Tripoli,” Townsend said. [You mean kind of like US intervention in 2011 was responsible for a sharp increase in fighting and state collapse from which the country has still not recovered?]

Mohammed Ali Abdallah, advisor for U.S. affairs in Libya’s GNA, said the U.S. drone had come down near the pro-LNA stronghold of Tarhuna, 65km (40 miles) south-east of Tripoli.

More than 1,400 Russian mercenaries were deployed with the LNA, he said.

“Only the Russians have that ability – and they were operating where it happened,” Abdallah said, in written comments sent to Reuters.

“It’s our understanding that Haftar was asked by his Russian partners to claim responsibility, despite not having the capability or equipment to shoot down a US drone.” [Really?? Somebody in control of a militarized oil-rich statelet of 4 million people backed by UAE and Egypt and in posession of a great deal of Gaddafi’s old hardware has less potent anti-aircraft weaponry than a band of Russian mercenaries??]

More than 200 civilians have been killed and more than 128,000 displaced in the fighting since April, according to U.N. figures.

Source: Reuters

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