Muslim Brotherhood Caliphate Threatened in Libya

A Muslim Brotherhood caliphate on Europe’s doorstep! That’s the aim of Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan. And it’s not an empty dream; the fanatical Islamist is moving quickly in an effort to turn it into reality by moving thousands of hardline head-cutting fanatics out of Syria and sending them to Libya.

We make no apology for returning to this subject. The military/terror menace from such a regime would combine with the threat of a vast increase in the numbers of African and Maghrebian migrants that would pour across the Mediterranean to Italy and on to the rest of Europe.

Erdogan’s justification for sending Turkish weapons and a Jihadi army to Libya is to provide support for Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, the head of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).

Among the Islamist groups also backing the GNA is the al-Watan Party headed by Abedelhakim Belhaj, the former head of the self-styled Tripoli Military Council. Belhaj was the emir of the now defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an Islamist organisation that prevoiusly campaigned for the overthrow of former Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

The LIFG was closely linked to the May 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist attack that killed 23 people during a concert given by the American singer Ariana Grande.

The GNA Islamists have been under enormous pressure as a result of the offensive being undertaken by General Khalifa Haftar, the rebel Libyan leader who, with the backing of Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates, has liberated large swathes of the country and come close to taking control of the Libyan capital.

Support for Gen Haftar has grown as a result of the fact that one of the key aims of his military campaign is prevent the country from falling into the hands of Islamist militias which have aligned themselves with the GNA.

Many of these groups have links with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist party that briefly — and disastrously — held power in neighbouring Egypt.

Mr Erdogan was an ardent supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood when it held power in Cairo, and there is mounting concern now that the Turkish leader has set his sights on establishing a similar Islamist regime in Libya.

The refusal of the European Union to address this situation and to follow the example of Russia and France is yet another example of the suicidal weakness of Brussels in the face of Islamist aggression.