US Drill Brings Libya’s Rival Forces Together In Historic First

Edited by: Maren Sass

Rain is drizzling as we gather on the runway at the Stuttgart army airfield in southern Germany. It’s 2:30 a.m., time for takeoff.

A Dash 8 airliner is ready for boarding. The military plane will take us to Sirte in Libya. In 2015, the extremist group known as the “Islamic State” turned the coastal city into its largest stronghold outside Iraq and Syria. Only after months of heavy fighting was it liberated by Libyan armed forces, with support from US airstrikes. But this was not the last battle in Sirte. The country was already engulfed in a civil war.

An exercise to unify Libyan forces

After years of fighting, rival factions agreed to a ceasefire in 2020. But the oil-rich nation has remained divided between two administrations since 2014.

Now Libya’s west is controlled by the Government of National Unity (GNU), an internationally recognized UN-brokered provisional government based in Tripoli under Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah. The eastern administration is based in Tobruk and led by Osama Hammad, who is backed by the warlord-turned-politician Khalifah Haftar.

This week, Flintlock 2026, a US-led special operations exercise with 30 nations participating, kicked off in Sirte. The Flintlock event has been held around the continent since 2005, with European and African countries participating. But this year, for the very first time, Libyan forces from both sides of the country are taking part in the exercises and Libya is hosting parts of the exercise.

Back on board the Dash 8, the VIP of the day is Lieutenant General John Brennan. The deputy commander of the US Africa Command is on his way to observe the training exercise. Speaking with the press, he repeatedly makes clear how remarkable it is that this exercise is bringing together Libyan forces from the eastern and western parts of the country.

“The Libyan people deserve unified security forces to protect them and their interests,” Brennan says. “Security breeds prosperity.”

Why does it matter for the US?

Having soldiers from the two sides train together, wearing the same uniform during Flintlock 2026, is considered a major achievement.

When asked about the purpose of US engagement in the region, Brennan says, “Libya is a critical key terrain for NATO’s southern neighborhood.”

Western intelligence agencies are highly concerned about activities by terrorist groups like the “Islamic State” and al-Qaeda in the region. They seem to be expanding quickly in Africa, especially in the Sahel, kidnapping civilians and conducting major attacks against militaries and civilians alike. From the US perspective, stabilizing Libya is also about preventing such threats from potentially going global, one official explains.

Prioritizing economic security

However this exercise is also about economic opportunities. The goal is to factor in “where the security and economic interests of the US overlap,” according to a US defense official DW spoke with. This is in line with the US national security strategy, which defines economic security, including securing access to critical supply chains and materials, as one of its priorities. Indeed, the administration under US President Donald Trump is eager to gain access to resources in the region.

But so are other actors.

Russia, for example, has interest in Libya’s oil and gold reserves. Its former Wagner Group mercenaries, now rebranded as the Africa Corps, have been active in the country since 2019, delivering military equipment and collaborating with forces alinged with Haftar. Meanwhile China’s strategy for Africa focuses on securing long-term access to critical minerals, for instance by acquiring major mining assets.

A whole region at stake

After a five-hour flight, we’re finally in Sirte. A seemingly endless convoy of SUVs takes us to the designated training site. Every few hundred meters, we see soldiers, police and armored vehicles along the route.

The training scenario is simple: Terrorists have kidnapped migrants and are holding them hostage. Libyan and US special forces must free the hostages and eliminate the terrorist threat. The forces move quickly under the supervision of visiting generals and other dignitaries. Among them is Gianluca Alberini, Italy’s ambassador to Libya.

“For Italy, Europe and the US, a united Libya will be able to provide stability to the whole region,” he tells us. Asked about doubts as to whether the competing factions in Libya are really committed to a united country, he acknowledges that, “it is a process” and calls “a bigger engagement of the US in this region a big factor.”

Incentives for reunification

Two years ago, a military drill like this one, with a new joint operation center for all Libyan forces, was almost unimaginable. Now Libyan military chiefs from competing factions in the country’s east and west hold speeches in Sirte, describing the path to Libya’s reunification as “not a choice but a must.”

Brennan says the magnitude of potential economic investment “is an incentive for a reunification” for Libya’s rival administrations. Other officials gathered in Sirte seem to believe that too. Many point out that unifying the Libyan military could also minimize Russia’s influence.

Russia doubles its deployment

Following military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Western forces were largely expelled from the Sahel region as successive governments opened their doors to Russia instead. Neither the US nor Europeans want this scenario to repeat in other nearby countries.

Since 2024, Russia has doubled its military deployment in West Africa and is actively seeking to enhance its presence and influence in Libya as well. It reopened an embassy in Tripoli in 2024 and reportedly transferred personnel and military equipment to an abandoned base near the border with Chad and Sudan.

“The significant Russian military presence in Libya on the southern flank of NATO is obviously a concern for us,” British Ambassador Martin Reynolds says in Sirte.

“We would like to see a government we can work closely with,” Reynolds adds, one “which does not see the need to bring in foreign powers in the way it is currently happening.”

Disclaimer: This report first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.