EU Ignores Libyan Caliphate Threat

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.

Mr 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 played a major role in the overthrow and brutal murder of 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 that the Turkish leader has set his sights on establishing a similar Islamist regime in Libya.

The pathetic failure of the EU to follow the wise example set by Russia and -unusually – France in backing the anti-Islamist faction is yet another example of the craven inability of the Brussels elite to see reality or to act in the true interests of the peoples of Europe.