Threats made by Ansar Al-Sharia in a televised statement, last Wednesday, offered retired General Khalifa Hafter support in his claims to be fighting terrorism. The threats won his “Dignity Operation” additional support in Libya and tacit support in the West. General Hafter’s inability, however, to translate that support into significant military results on the ground have started to sow doubts in the minds of those who joined him. His latest calls on Egypt to intervene, as well as his statements that the operation might take three to one year, have not helped his case. In Tripoli, his political supporters’ tactic of prolonging the political deadlock seems to be faltering. The political impasse has continued for over a week now, with the president of the National General Assembly (Bousahmin) supporting the new Ahmed Maetiq government, while his first deputy (Al Awamy) blocked the transfer of power through a Supreme Court motion in favour of the current caretaker government led by Abdullah Al-Thinni. On Monday June 2, however, the Middle Brigade (Misrata) intervened and imposed a transfer of power to Maetiq. With parliamentary elections due in less than a month, time works in favour of the pro-General National Congress and their 17 February Revolutionaries unless General Hafter chooses to wage an all-out airstrike offensive on Benghazi, which would risk plunging Libya into all-out civil war.
