Trump Backed Libyan Warlord After Saudi Arabia and Egypt Lobbied Him

Trump Backed Libyan Warlord After Saudi Arabia and Egypt Lobbied Him by Vivian Salama, Jared Malsin and Summer Said – Wall Street Journal

The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt successfully lobbied President Trump to reverse U.S. policy in Libya and support a rogue general leading an offensive on a government in Tripoli backed by the United Nations, according to a senior U.S. administration official and two Saudi officials.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi have both thrown their support to Gen. Khalifa Haftar, a Libyan militia leader whose battle to capture Tripoli has plunged the country into another civil war. The two leaders view the Western-backed government in Tripoli as aligned with dangerous Islamic extremists and with regional rivals Turkey and Qatar. But there are hardline Islamists on both sides.

Gen. Haftar’s offensive, which began on April 4, has resulted in a full-blown proxy battle, pitting Middle Eastern and Western powers against one another in a fight for control of a major oil-exporting state on Europe’s doorstep.

Both Prince Mohammed and Mr. Sisi urged Mr. Trump on April 9 to talk to Gen. Haftar and support his cause, the administration official said—the prince in a phone call to Mr. Trump and the Egyptian president in a conversation at the White House. Specifically, the prince told Mr. Trump that militias in Tripoli were affiliated with Islamic State and al Qaeda, according to the U.S. and Saudi officials…

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