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Libyans Await Biden Term, Blame Trump for Tripoli War

A smoke rises from a port of Tripoli after being attacked in Tripoli, Libya, February 18, 2020. (Reuters)
A smoke rises from a port of Tripoli after being attacked in Tripoli, Libya, February 18, 2020. (Reuters)
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Libyans Await Biden Term, Blame Trump for Tripoli War

A smoke rises from a port of Tripoli after being attacked in Tripoli, Libya, February 18, 2020. (Reuters)
A smoke rises from a port of Tripoli after being attacked in Tripoli, Libya, February 18, 2020. (Reuters)

Some Libyan people were amused with the developments at the US Capitol last week as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed Congress.

The Libyans compared the “struggle for power” and the signs of division in their country to the developments in the US, saying the Americans had “learned” from the Libyan experience.

Setting aside mockery, many Libyans blame Trump for the war that the Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Khalifa Haftar, waged against Tripoli in 2019 and that only ended 14 months later with Turkey’s intervention in support of the Government of National Accord (GNA).

The Libyans hope that President-elect Joe Biden would “rectify the course” adopted by his processor.

Former senior advisor at the United Nations, Ibrahim Mousa Said Grada said Trump was partially to blame for the Tripoli war that began on April 4, 2019.

He cited the telephone call Haftar held on April 19, 2019 with then US national security advisor John Bolton, who according to western diplomats, told the LNA commander that if he was seeking to attack Tripoli, he should do it swiftly.

Many interpreted his remark as an American green light to continue the offensive and that Washington would not intervene to prevent it.

Grada described the Tripoli offensive as the “fiercest and most horrible war against a Libyan city in Libya’s modern history.”

He said the attack was “worse than any battle waged during the 32-year Italian colonial rule of the country or any fighting in Libya during World War II.”

Many Libyans hope that Biden would quickly and positively become involved in Middle Eastern affairs in order to help resolve the many problems plaguing the region.

They hope that he would steer clear from the “erratic” policy of Trump and also from the policies of his predecessor Barack Obama.

Moreover, many Libyans hope that Biden would stay true to his vow during his electoral campaign to counter Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitions in Libya.

The Cato Institute in Washington, however, urged Biden against military intervention in other countries.

“If Joe Biden wants to produce a constructive record in foreign policy, he needs to repudiate much of the Obama‐Biden administration’s foreign policy legacy. In particular, he must demonstrate that the United States is out of the forcible regime‐change business,” it said in December.

It said that despite “corruption and repression” under late ruler Moammar al-Gaddafi, he “was able to maintain a modicum of stability and order, and Libya was a modernizing society with increased signs of prosperity.”

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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

In the Mazzeh 86 neighborhood, west of the Syrian capital Damascus, the names of many shops, grocery stores, and public squares still serve as a reminder of the era of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad.

This is evident in landmarks like the “Al-Hafez Restaurant,” one of the prominent features of this area. Squares such as “Al-Areen,” “Officers,” and “Bride of the Mountain” evoke memories of the buildings surrounding them, which once housed influential officials and high-ranking officers in intelligence and security agencies. These individuals instilled fear in Syrians for five decades until their historic escape on the night of the regime’s collapse last month.

In this neighborhood, the effects of Israeli bombing are clearly visible, as it was targeted multiple times. Meanwhile, its narrow streets and alleys were strewn with military uniforms abandoned by leaders who fled before military operations arrived and liberated the area from their grip on December 8 of last year.

Here, stark contradictions come to light during a tour by Asharq Al-Awsat in a district that, until recently, was largely loyal to the former president. Muaz, a 42-year-old resident of the area, recounts how most officers and security personnel shed their military uniforms and discarded them in the streets on the night of Assad’s escape.

He said: “Many of them brought down their weapons and military ranks in the streets and fled to their hometowns along the Syrian coast.”

Administratively part of Damascus, Mazzeh 86 consists of concrete blocks randomly built between the Mazzeh Western Villas area, the Mazzeh Highway, and the well-known Sheikh Saad commercial district. Its ownership originally belonged to the residents of the Mazzeh area in Damascus. The region was once agricultural land and rocky mountain terrain. The peaks extending toward Mount Qasioun were previously seized by the Ministry of Defense, which instructed security and army personnel to build homes there without requiring property ownership documents.

Suleiman, a 30-year-old shop owner, who sells white meat and chicken, hails from the city of Jableh in the coastal province of Latakia. His father moved to this neighborhood in the 1970s to work as an army assistant.

Suleiman says he hears the sound of gunfire every evening, while General Security patrols roam the streets “searching for remnants of the former regime and wanted individuals who refuse to surrender their weapons. We fear reprisals and just want to live in peace.”

He mentioned that prices before December 8 were exorbitant and beyond the purchasing power of Syrians, with the price of a kilogram of chicken exceeding 60,000 Syrian pounds and a carton of eggs reaching 75,000.

“A single egg was sold for 2,500 pounds, which is far beyond the purchasing power of any employee in the public or private sector,” due to low salaries and the deteriorating living conditions across the country,” Suleiman added.

On the sides of the roads, pictures of the fugitive president and his father, Hafez al-Assad, were torn down, while military vehicles were parked, awaiting instructions.

Maram, 46, who previously worked as a civilian employee in the Ministry of Defense, says she is waiting for the resolution of employment statuses for workers in army institutions. She stated: “So far, there are no instructions regarding our situation. The army forces and security personnel have been given the opportunity for settlement, but there is no talk about us.”

The neighborhood, in its current form, dates back to the 1980s when Rifaat al-Assad, the younger brother of former President Hafez al-Assad, was allowed to construct the “Defense Palace,” which was referred to as “Brigade 86.” Its location is the same area now known as Mazzeh Jabal 86.

The area is divided into two parts: Mazzeh Madrasa (School) and Mazzeh Khazan (Tank). The first takes its name from the first school built and opened in the area, while the second is named after the water tank that supplies the entire Mazzeh region.

Two sources from the Mazzeh Municipality and the Mukhtar’s office estimate the neighborhood’s current population at approximately 200,000, down from over 300,000 before Assad’s fall. Most residents originate from Syria’s coastal regions, followed by those from interior provinces like Homs and Hama. There was also a portion of Kurds who had moved from the Jazira region in northeastern Syria to live there, but most returned to their areas due to the security grip and after the “Crisis Cell” bombing that killed senior security officials in mid-2012.

Along the main street connecting Al-Huda Square to Al-Sahla Pharmacy, torn images of President Hafez al-Assad are visible for the first time in this area in five decades. On balconies and walls, traces of Bashar al-Assad’s posters remain, bearing witness to his 24-year era.