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Amid Spat with Bashagha, GNA Introduces Sudden Military Changes

Libyan demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Tripoli on August 25, 2020. (Reuters)
Libyan demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Tripoli on August 25, 2020. (Reuters)
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Amid Spat with Bashagha, GNA Introduces Sudden Military Changes

Libyan demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Tripoli on August 25, 2020. (Reuters)
Libyan demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest in Tripoli on August 25, 2020. (Reuters)

Head of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj appointed a new defense minister and chief of staff in what was interpreted as a move against suspended Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha.

The minister had recently returned to the North African country from a trip to Turkey and was given a big reception by officers and supporters and even an unprecedented military parade to mark his arrival back home.

Bashagha was suspended by the GNA over his handling of street protests and his violent crackdown against them. People had taken to the streets to protest against poor services and living conditions.

The GNA said it will investigate Bashagha.

Bashagha appeared to defy the GNA by being escorted to his home from the airport by a very large convoy that made its way through the capital, Tripoli, where Sarraj's government is based. He was also accompanied by allied armed factions.

Local media reported that protesters in western Tripoli celebrated Bashagha's return by chanting against Syrian mercenaries that have been brought in by Turkey to prop up the GNA forces.

In remarks from the airport, the minister said: "I am not opposed to any group or individual. I am speaking about a sick phenomenon called corruption."

He later said he will comply with the GNA request to investigate him, despite his legal misgivings. He vowed that he will continue his fight against corruption, inside and outside the government.

Separately, Sarraj appointed Mohammed al-Haddad as chief of staff, replacing Mohammed al-Sharif. Salah Namroush was also promoted to Defense Minister, a position that was occupied by Sarraj.

Haddad is a native of the coastal city of Misrata, 200 kilometer east of Tripoli. Misrata is a stronghold of armed groups that have fought alongside the GNA against the Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Khalifa Haftar.

The appointments were announced days after Sarraj announced a government reshuffle amid mounting popular anger in Tripoli and other cities in western Libya that are controlled by the GNA.

Separately, deputy head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Stephanie Williams held talks in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri and head of intelligence Abbas Kamel.

Discussions focused on means to end the escalation in Libya and the need for an immediate return to a comprehensive UN-sponsored political process.

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Houthi Network Recruits Hundreds of Yemenis to Fight in Ukraine

Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
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Houthi Network Recruits Hundreds of Yemenis to Fight in Ukraine

Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)
Honoring a Yemeni fighter in the ranks of the Russian forces (local media)

In a nearly one-minute video, a young Yemeni man tells how he and his colleagues traveled to Russia on the promise of lucrative employment in fields such as “security” and “engineering”, but ended up fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
The young man, whose face was covered, expressed with his colleagues their desire to return to Yemen. They said they did not wish to suffer the same fate as their friends and get killed.
Last Sunday, The Financial Times said in a report that Russia’s armed forces have recruited hundreds of Yemeni men to fight in Ukraine, brought by a shadowy trafficking operation that highlights the growing links between Moscow and the Houthi militant group.
Later in video recordings, young Yemeni men spoke about the practice of Houthi smugglers who take advantage of the difficult economic conditions of Yemenis to recruit hundreds of them, and send them to fight alongside Russian troops.
The network of traffickers operate from Yemen and other Arab countries, and coordinate with others within Russian territory.
The Houthi network recruited hundreds of Yemenis and sent them to fight in Russia, according to sources close to their families and others in the Yemeni government.
In one of the videos, a group of Yemeni recruits said they worked in Oman, when a medical equipment company founded by a Houthi politician, Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri, lured them by promises of lucrative employment in fields such as “security” and “engineering” in Russia.
They said they were promised a salary of $2,500 per month. But arriving in Moscow, they were received by a representative from the Russian Defense Ministry who told them they will work as security guards at Russian facilities.
Two days after their arrival, the recruits were sent to camps, where they trained for combat and received a salary of between $185 and $232 a month. They are now calling on the Yemeni government to intervene to return them to their country.
But another Yemeni, Ahmed, who is familiar with a group of recruits, explains that he and his friends had warned these young men not to go to Russia where they risk getting involved in the ongoing war.
The recruits told him that they could escape to Europe and seek asylum as hundreds of Yemenis did before.
However, after arriving with the help of a Houthi-linked medical company, many have apparently been coerced into the Russian military, forced to sign fighting contracts at gunpoint and sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
A member of the Yemeni community in Russia told Asharq Al-Awsat that smugglers are luring Yemeni young men to go to Russia to work for salaries of up to $2,500 per month and are then transferred to Arab capitals, including Muscat, Beirut and Damascus, to be then transferred to Russian territory.
After their arrival, he said, the recruits are taken to weapons training camps, allegedly as employees of a security company. But they are later sent to fight on the front lines with Ukraine along with mercenaries from other nationalities.
Activists and members of the Yemeni community in Russia estimate that there are about 300 young Yemenis who refuse to join the fighting in Ukraine and want to return to their country.
“Those men were tempted by the dire economic conditions in Yemen due to the ongoing war,” the activists said.
A Yemeni recruit of the shadowy trafficking operation said that Abdulwali Abdo Hassan al-Jabri, a prominent Houthi politician, is one of the main recruiters. He is assisted by his brother Abdul Waheed, who was appointed by the group as director of Al-Masrakh districts in Taiz Province.
The recruit said that the group of traffickers includes Hani al-Zarriqi, who has been living in Russia for years, and Mohammed al-Iyani, who lives in a Yemeni neighboring country.
Two relatives of the recruits accuse al-Jabri and his aides of arranging the transfer of the young men from Yemen to a neighboring country, and from there to Moscow, on the pretext of working for private security companies. The traffickers receive a commission of between $10 and $15 thousand per person.