Who in Libya will the U.S. send weapons to? It’s complicated, says a top general

[Timber Rattler]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/05/17/who-in-libya-will-the-u-s-send-weapons-to-its-complicated-says-a-top-general/

The top U.S. general overseeing American military operations in Africa said Tuesday that while Washington is considering sending weapons to Libya to fight the Islamic State, doing so will require taking cues from a fledgling unity government that is still struggling to establish support at home.

Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez, the chief of U.S. Africa Command, told a handful of reporters here that Libya’s internal politics still make it difficult to determine which armed groups are aligning themselves with the Government of National Accord, an interim group that has backing from the United Nations. The militias would be called on to play a key role in stopping the spread of the Islamic State, which took hold in Libya in November 2014.

“We’re really dependent on the Government of National Accord to figure out who is with them and who is moving over toward them,” Rodriguez said. “Those are some of the things you can really only understand by watching how the GNA operates and how the different militias operate, whether it’s the Misratas, the Zintans or anybody else.”

(Excerpt)