The Ugly Aftermath of America’s Intervention in Libya

Remember when NATO’s intervention in Libya was supposed to
be an example of a war that worked? Three years after the
U.S. helped overthrow the regime of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi,
The New York Times
reports, the

country is coming undone. Relentless factional
fighting in Tripoli and in the eastern city of Benghazi has left
dozens of people dead. Well-known political activists have been
killed, diplomats have been kidnapped, and ordinary citizens fear
bandits on the roads.

Water and electricity shutdowns have become more frequent than at
any time since the chaos after Colonel Qaddafi’s fall, and fuel has
disappeared from Tripoli’s gas stations. On Sunday, several Western
nations advised their citizens to leave immediately. Gunmen
attacked a convoy of British diplomats….

This time, the fighting in Tripoli seems at least partly fueled by
the campaign of a general named Khalifa Hifter, who vowed in May to
rid the country of Islamist militias. He and his self-proclaimed
national army have focused their fight in Benghazi, where daily
battles with the militias have settled into a deadly
stalemate.

Mr. Hifter has won support from Libyans who fear the growing
assertiveness of extremists, especially in eastern Libya. But his
campaign has also stirred new divisions, and violence, across the
country. Militias from the coastal city of Misurata that oppose Mr.
Hifter have been clashing for weeks around the Tripoli airport with
fighters from the mountain city of Zintan, who support
him.

Any glimmers of a potential peace? Well, the forces battling for
control of Tripoli’s airport agreed to a
cease-fire last night—but only to give firefighters a chance to
try to put out a gigantic fire that a missile set off at an fuel
depot. After 24 hours, the truce is scheduled to expire.

The Atlantic‘s Conor Friedersdorf
comments: “At the very most charitable, the common
interventionist claim that Libya vindicated them in their dispute
with non-interventionists was wildly premature.” At the very most
charitable, yes.