The US is trying to push Russia out of Libya, The Wall Street Journal writes
Last fall, Lieutenant General John Brennan, deputy commander of US Africa Command (AFRICOM), announced military exercises by special operations forces in Libya during a visit to the country. He then visited Tripoli and Sirte and met with representatives of the warring governments.
Libya has a dual power structure. Tripoli in the west is the center of the UN-backed Government of National Accord, led by Abdelhamid Dbeibah, while Tobruk in the east is the seat of the House of Representatives. The eastern part is controlled by the Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Haftar in the Kremlin in 2025 and 2023. The Flintlock 2026 exercises began yesterday in Libya and Ivory Coast.
“The scale of the investment potential is an incentive for unification,“ Brennan said. “Stabilizing the situation in Libya could also allow the deployment of resources from various industries, especially high-tech and defense,“ he noted.
“Libya is gradually becoming a more orderly country,“ said Jeff Porter, president of New York-based North Africa Risk Consulting. “More traditional Western players tend to engage with both the West and the East, so Russia is left out,” he added.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Brennan saw an opportunity to connect Haftar with Abdul Salam al-Zubi, deputy defense minister in the Tripoli-based government of national unity. A senior Pentagon official said the two eventually hit it off and even occasionally had dinner together, despite their different political camps.
The exercises are another step toward reconciliation between the former adversaries, the newspaper noted. They are expected to give Libya access to training and equipment from the United States and its allies, which will eventually allow it to break away from Russia and Belarus.
“We would like to see a government that sees no need to involve foreign powers, particularly Russia,“ said British Ambassador to Libya Martin Reynolds.
The country has the largest oil reserves in Africa, but years of fighting and instability have left it chronically underdeveloped, the Wall Street Journal noted. American oil majors have begun to show interest in the country for the first time in years. In February, Chevron struck its first deal in Libya. Oil production reached 1.43 million barrels per day earlier this month, the highest level in more than a decade.
A more stable environment could facilitate the development of Libya’s rare earths and other critical minerals, including uranium and possibly lithium and cobalt. Gaining access to these resources, so important to the American high-tech industry, is a priority for the Donald Trump administration, the newspaper writes.