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Gunmen Seize Government Ministries As Libya Spirals Further Into Chaos By LAURA KING Armed militiamen take over most government ministries in Tripoli as Libya continues to devolve into chaos Libyan government admits that 'most of the ministries and institutions' in Tripoli are out of its control Armed militiamen have seized control of most Libyan government ministries in the capital, Tripoli, the transitional government acknowledged early Monday, in the latest sign of a dramatic deterioration of Libya’s trappings of statehood. Energy-rich Libya has slipped ever deeper into chaos since the toppling of longtime dictator Moammar Kadafi in 2011. The armed groups...

When conservatives criticize the Obama administration over the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks, much of the attention is trained on the security failures preceding the raid, the dishonest public spin campaign after the fact, the lack of accountability nearly two years later, and the still-unanswered questions on a host of fronts. But that lethal event was merely a symptom of the White House's broader, unraveling foreign policy. The president intervened in Libya in 2011, deploying US military resources to help a rebel fighting force depose and dispatch murderous dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The Libya conflict was paradigmatic of Obama's approach to war:...

Nearly two years ago today, on September 11, 2012, four Americans were killed in a coordinated and sophisticated attack on an American diplomatic consulate and a nearby CIA outpost in Benghazi, Libya. But you’re not supposed to talk about that. At least not within the context of today’s news; that the Islamist militia, which recently sacked the country’s capital, have also taken control of portions of the U.S. embassy in Tripoli. Amid turmoil in Libya in late July, the United States suspended operations at the Tripoli-based diplomatic facility and evacuated American personnel to nearby Tunisia. “Due to the ongoing...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of a Libyan militia have taken over an abandoned annex of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli but have not broken into the main compound where the United States evacuated all of its staff last month, U.S. officials said on Sunday. A YouTube video showed the breach of the diplomatic facility by what was believed to be a militia group mostly from the northwestern city of Misrata. Dozens of men, some armed, were seen gleefully crowded onto the patio of a swimming pool, with some diving in from the balcony of a nearby building. Libya has been...

'The Dawn of Libya' Islamist Militia Storms US Embassy Compound In Tripoli Footage reportedly taken inside the compound shows men gathered around the embassy swimming pool, with some even jumping in An official claims the compound is being 'safeguarded' and was not 'ransacked' The compound has been unoccupied since July 26 when U.S. diplomats evacuated to neighboring Tunisia under a U.S. military escort It comes near the two-year anniversary of the death of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi 31 August 2014 An Islamist-allied militia group says it has 'secured' a U.S. Embassy...

An Islamic militant group said Sunday it has “secured” a U.S. Embassy compound in Libya’s capital city of Tripoli.

An Islamic militant group said Sunday it has “secured” a U.S. Embassy compound in Libya’s capital city of Tripoli. American personnel evacuated the area roughly a month ago amid ongoing fighting in the country. An Associated Press journalist walked through the compound Sunday after the Dawn of Libya, an umbrella group for Islamist militias, invited onlookers inside. Windows at the compound had been broken, but it appeared most of the equipment there remained untouched.

Obama’s “we-don’t-have-a-strategy” gaffe was so egregious as to distract attention from the fact that he does indeed have a strategy, which has blown up in his face. His strategy is accommodation with Iran at all costs. As I wrote earlier this month, our ISIS problem derives from our Iran problem: Bashar Assad’s ethnic cleansing, which has displaced 4 million Syrians internally and driven 3 million out of the country, was possible because of Iranian backing. The refugee flood in Iraq and Syria gives ISIS an unlimited pool of recruits. Iraqi Sunni support for ISIS, including the participation of some of...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There are 65 prominent people who might run for president in 2016. The Democratic and Republican fields contrast sharply. Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner, while there is no front-runner on the Republican side. Twenty-three Democrats have been mentioned as a candidate or are eyeing a bid, according to an analysis by The Hill. The GOP side has 42. Most of the people on this list won’t run, and some have adamantly claimed that they’re not interested. But many politicians have changed their minds on seeking the White House. Before mounting his 2008 bid, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he...

After World War I the third rate minds who brought us the conflict to begin with came up with another stupid idea: They decided to divide up former German, Austrian and Turkish empires into separate countries, like Czechoslovakia, and create makeshifts, like the Danzig Corridor. Germany lost territory to Poland to create a land corridor to Danzig that gave Poland access to the sea.Never mind that it cleaved a country in two. It was these territorial wedges-- wedges that diced up ethnicity-- that Hitler used to gain legitimacy in the eyes of Germans. By cutting up countries in defiance of...

Since Barack Obama has been the Hindenburg of Presidents on the domestic front, there hasn't been as much commentary as you'd expect about the fact that he has been the Titanic of Presidents on foreign policy. George W. Bush certainly made his mistakes as President, primarily in Iraq, but you did at least get the sense that his administration was full of capable, serious adults sincerely grappling with a new strategic problem for the country. On the other hand, when it comes to foreign policy, Obama comes across like a bored kid playing war because his mother won't let him...

August 26, 2014 21:25 Egypt and the United Arab Emirates reportedly attack Libya while leaving US in the dark. Why is the Obama administration so out of the loop?

“The Obama administration did not know ahead of time about the highly unusual military intervention….” That’s how the Washington Post describes a recent series of airstrikes in the Libyan capital of Tripoli by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The secret attacks, according to the New York Times, were aimed at Islamist-allied militias battling for control of Tripoli; and they represent “a major escalation of a regional power struggle set off by Arab Spring revolts.” In what could be a sign of increasingly strained international relations, the Times also reports: The United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and the Emirates, both close allies...

Senior U.S. officials said Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have launched airstrikes against Islamic militants in the Libyan capital twice in the past week. U.S. officials told reporters that the move caught the United States by surprise, potentially dealing a blow to relations between Washington, Cairo and the Emirates. U.S. officials said Egypt provided the base for the launch of the airstrikes, and the U.A.E. provided the aircraft and pilots. Egypt has not publicly acknowledged any role in the air strikes. The UAE had no immediate comment. The first strike took place in Tripoli a week ago and targeted...

By Walid Shoebat (Shoebat Exclusive) As has been predicted by Shoebat.com for years which these days things are moving with lightening speed, the Islamist seized Libya’s capital, Tripoli including its airport, proclaimed their own government and presented the world with yet another similar crisis to ISIS. All this has major prophetic implications. The umbrella group for Islamist militias calling itself Al-Fajr (The Dawn) of Libya said it has also taken hold of other locations in the capital controlled by the rival militias, drawing to a close one chapter in a prolonged confrontation between the Islamist-allied militia, largely from the city...

The victory, which secures Islamist control over Tripoli, was a culmination of weeks of fighting triggered by elections in July which Islamist parties lost. Rather than accept the result, Islamist leaders accused the new parliament of being dominated by supporters of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and have sought to restore the old national congress. “The general national congress will hold an emergency meeting in Tripoli to save the country,” said congress spokesman Omar Ahmidan. Libya’s official parliament, the House of Representatives, in the eastern city of Tobruk, denounced the attack as illegal, branding Dawn a “terrorist organisation” and announcing a...

Fire destroyed the terminal at Tripoli's main airport on Sunday, one day after it was seized by militia fighters from the Libyan city of Misrata, witnesses said. Unidentified war planes also attacked targets in the capital, residents said, the latest stage of the worst fighting in Libya since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Tripoli residents heard jets followed by explosions at dawn but more details were not immediately available. (SNIP) Misrata forces have blamed the air strikes on Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, two countries which have cracked down on Islamists. Libya's government says it does not...

CAIRO: Libya’s Islamist militias said Sunday they have consolidated their hold on Tripoli and its international airport, driving out rival militias to the outskirts of the capital following a weekslong battle for control of the strategic hub. ...

A statement shown on screen on An-Nabaa television, regarded as close to the Islamists, said: "Fajr Libya announces that it totally controls Tripoli international airport." Earlier on Saturday, leaders of the Islamist coalition, partly comprising men from Misrata, east of Tripoli, said their forces were advancing on the airport, having taken a bridge and a military base. The strategic site 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of the Libyan capital, has been shut since July 13 amid skirmishes between the Islamists and the Zintan force, allies of rogue general Khalifa Haftar, based at Benghazi in eastern Libya and hostile to the...

A wooden boat carrying up to 200 migrants has sunk just one kilometre (half a mile) off the Libyan coast, the coast guard said on Saturday, and most passengers were feared drowned. The local coast guard said it had no boats of its own and had to commandeer fishing vessels in a rescue attempt after fishermen raised the alarm on Saturday morning. Migrants have been streaming out of North Africa in rickety boats in rising numbers for years. Many head for Italy, and so far in 2014, the total number reaching Italian shores has passed 100,000, the Italian government said...