THE WAR OF ZINTAN AND MISURATA

Libya once again finds itself at the centre of the world's attention. The country, which is still reeling from the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, is enduring a new phase of a civil war which has led to an increasing loss of civilian lives. When he was dictator Muammar Gaddafi kept the country under integrated state control, but in the three years since the fall of the Jamahiriya following a military operation by the West Libya as a state has been heading towards oblivion.

Like it or not, it cannot be denied that the world's forces, in removing Gaddafi by force, cut off the supplies of oxygen which enabled Libya's state system to function. And, essentially, Libya, gripped by chaos and civil war, owes its headlong slide into the abyss precisely to its liberators from Gaddafi's tyranny - the US, France, Britain and the other western countries.

What does Libya, which just a decade ago occupied one of the leading positions among the steadily developing Arab states with a socially-orientated economy, have now?  It is as if the country has been sacrificed to an untold number of armed groups, organized on tribal and territorial principles and waging a fierce life or death struggle with one another. This struggle got even worse after the ousting in March this year of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan. Abdullah al-Thani was entrusted with forming a new government. However, this task was beyond a politician who found himself under the strongest pressure from various forces desperate to become a part of the government. The key struggle centred around the post of defence minister. The Islamist radicals demanded that Abdel Hakim Belhaj be appointed to this post. When at-Thani refused to submit to blackmail shots were fired at the house of the new prime minister. Having failed to form a caretaker government, at-Thani found himself marginalized.

Deputies then voted for Ahmed Miitig who maintained close relations with the radical Islamists. The endorsement of the new government, which went ahead despite violation of the rules of procedure, confirmed the picture of the chaotic nature of Libyan domestic politics. The speaker of parliament adopted a decision to appoint Ahmed Miitig prime minister, although the number of votes in support of the Islamist candidate did not reach the required majority of 120 deputies.

And then General Khalifa Haftar, who had declared a war on the Islamist radicals, entered the arena of the civil conflict. The general was able to win the support of high-ranking members of the army, as well as the influential politicians, Mahmoud Jibril and Ali Zeidan. They all stated that they did not recognize the legitimacy of Ahmed Miitig. The Constitutional Court, which declared the election of Ahmed Miitig as head of the government illegal, took a similar view. Meanwhile, General Haftar extended his military operations against the Islamist forces to their main stronghold, Benghazi. The general called his military operation "Libya's Dignity".

Parliamentary elections were held in Libya on 25 June and ended in a significant blow to the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies, who received only 25 out of 200 seats. According to a "Constitutional Declaration", the new parliament - the House of Representatives - will receive legislative functions from the General National Congress (GNC), controlled by the Islamists. It has become obvious that the House of Representatives will revise the legislation adopted by the Islamists and will alter the balance of forces in their disfavour. Prior to the handing over of power from the GNC to the House of Representatives, the Islamists stepped up their military operations with the aim of stalling the process of the inauguration of the supreme legislative body.

The civil conflict in the country of the victorious "Arab revolution" could tentatively be called the war of Zintan and Misurata. The names of these warring "brigades" come from the name of the towns in which the deployment centres of the armed formations are located. The main body of Misurata are the Islamists led by Salah Badi. The Zintan brigade is made up of Libyan "liberals", drawing on the militarized detachments of "Qaaqaa" and "Sawaiq", and also those supporting General Khalifa Haftar.

In the broader sense the war of Zintan and Misurata is a continuation of the stand-off between "liberal" Tripoli and "Islamist" Benghazi, which developed during the operation to overthrow Gaddafi. The intra-Libyan conflict reflects not only the ideological differences (between the secular and clerical circles), but also regional, tribal and ethnic, because Libya is a fairly demographically diverse country.

The key battles now revolve around the taking of Tripoli airport and for control of Benghazi. The Tubu, an indigenous black African tribe centred in the town of Murzuk, is now threatening to enter the battle on the side of the "liberals" for Libya's main airport, which is being defended by Zintan detachments. Denouncing the Islamists attacking Tripoli, the head of the Tubu military council, Barka Wardougou, warned "the detachments who are storming Tripoli International Airport and deliberately destroying state property that we will not stand idly by and watch the situation".

The battle for Benghazi is being waged between the forces of General Haftar and the Islamist formations. There are apparently two branches - the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists from the Ansar al-Sharia ("Supporters of Sharia") organization, who are believed to be close to al-Qa'eda - operating within the Islamist camp. Opposing General Haftar's offensive, they have mobilized their forces, which has made them even more effective bearing in mind the vital help they have had in the form of 3,000 jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq. Eventually, the militants of the Islamist groups were able to capture the main base of the army's special forces in Benghazi.

Apart from the human casualties, the fighting has completely destroyed Libya's civilian infrastructure and virtually wiped out its transport and communications system. The power station in the south of Tripoli has been knocked out and air communication between the Libyan capital and the outside world has been completely cut off.  But that is not all: Libya is being threatened with a unique ecological disaster. A fire broke out after a rocket fell on an oil reservoir situated on the flight path to the international airport in Tripoli. If all the reservoirs, which contain a total of over 65,000 tonnes of fuel, catch fire there will be a huge explosion which could cover an area of 3-5 km.  The Libyan authorities, therefore, are asking the international community to urgently help the country to put out the fire.

Meanwhile, the embassies of a number of countries, including the USA, Britain and Turkey, are rushing to get their diplomats out of Libya. The large-scale state crisis in the former Jamahiriya is threatening Libya with virtual international isolation. There is no prospect in sight of a stabilization of the situation in Libya, where there is a war of all against all, increasing enmity between Zintan and Misurata and the complete failure of the nominal revolving caretaker governments. The efforts of the US and the whole of the West to bring democracy to Libya by force have failed. One can only hope that the bitter fate of Iraq, which was also subjected to forced democratization but has virtually ceased to exist as an integral independent state, will not befall Libya, too.