Sawt Falasteen - 'Message for friends and foes': Libyan National Army conducts grand exercises

At the entrance of a sprawling military encampment some 100 kilometres away from Derna, a towering portrait of Haftar overlooked the scene.

The sand whipped across a barren landscape as armoured vehicles sped along.

The two-week exercises, which AFP journalists were permitted to observe during a visit over the weekend, will culminate on May 19 to mark the anniversary of the LNA's 2014 "Operation Dignity" campaign against jihadist groups, including the Islamic State, in Benghazi.

The campaign allowed Haftar's forces to wrest control over the east and ultimately parts of southern Libya.

Haftar, 82, and his sons -- including Saddam, his heir apparent -- will attend the display of firepower on May 19, along with foreign and Libyan officials.

The drills have deployed a panoply of military hardware -- including tank formations and Russian-made Pantsir air-defence systems -- with over 25,000 troops, said General Omar Mrajah Al Jedid, the officer overseeing the exercises.

General Abdallah Noureddine, another senior commander supervising operations near the village of El Ezzeiat, told AFP the manoeuvres were "a message for our friends and our foes".

Several reports have said that the United States, through Trump's senior adviser on Arab and African affairs Massad Boulos, is trying to promote a rapprochement between Libya's eastern and western authorities, signalling a potential shift in power structures.

The legislative bodies of both authorities last month signed a US-mediated agreement to unify public spending across the divided country for the first time in over a decade.

- 'Army for all Libyans' -

Libya has remained fractured since chaos broke loose following the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

The oil-rich country remains divided between a UN-recognised government based in its capital, Tripoli, and an eastern administration in Benghazi backed by Haftar.

Haftar's forces attempted to seize Tripoli in 2019 but failed after a year of armed conflict. Since then, a change of tack appears to have taken place.

General Noureddine said the LNA has focused less on outright conquest and more on showcasing its control over the east and south of the country, all while "wishing the same for the rest of Libya".

Human rights groups, however, have over the years accused forces linked to Haftar of arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, and centralising power only within the Haftar clan.

General Al Jedid said the military drills would also demonstrate the army's capacity to "safeguard the interests of all Libyans".

The LNA is capable of "protecting the borders from all attacks", he added, citing threats from "smugglers or terrorist groups currently moving through Mali, Niger and other countries in attempts to enter Libya".

Responding to critiques on whether the force represents Libya as a whole, Al Jedid -- himself from Tripoli and a former officer under Gaddafi -- said the army did not serve only Haftar and eastern Libya.

"This is not a private army," he said. "It's not Marshall Haftar's army, nor an army for the east, west or south. It's the army of all Libyans, tribes and families."

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST