David D. Kirkpatrick and Eric Schmitt
The New York Times
8/26/2014
CAIRO — Twice in the last seven days, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have secretly launched airstrikes against Islamist-allied militias battling for control of Tripoli, Libya, four senior American officials said, in a major escalation of a regional power struggle set off by Arab Spring revolts.
The United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and the Emirates, both close allies and military partners, acted without informing Washington, leaving the Obama administration on the sidelines. Egyptian officials explicitly denied to American diplomats that their military played any role in the operation, the officials said, in what appeared a new blow to already strained relations between Washington and Cairo.
The strikes in Tripoli are another destabilizing salvo in a power struggle defined by old-style Arab autocrats battling Islamist movements seeking to overturn the old order. Since the military ouster of the Islamist president in Egypt last year, the new government and its backers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have launched a campaign across the region — in the news media, in politics and diplomacy, and by arming local proxies — to roll back what they see as an existential threat to their authority posed by Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood…
The article continues at The New York Times.
Related: While Libya Burns, U.S. Ambassador Goes Yacht Watching on a Beach in Malta
The situation in Libya continues to deteriorate. Islamic terrorists have reportedly seized control of the airport in Tripoli after days of heavy fighting, while Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have launched a series of secret air strikes on militant positions, according to U.S. officials. U.S. ambassador to Libya Safira Deborah has fled the country.
On Monday, Deborah wrote on Twitter that she was “still” in the island nation of Malta, a popular tourist destination known for its sunny beaches. She included a photo as proof…
