A major international military exercise "Flintlock 2026" has begun in Libya, led by the US Africa Command (AFRICOM), in which about 30 countries from Europe and Africa are participating. The exercise brings together rival Libyan forces for the first time, while the United States says that the goal is the stabilization and eventual unification of the country and its army.
Drizzle is pouring down the runway as we assemble at the military airfield in Stuttgart. Two thirty in the morning. It's time to take off.
The twin-engined passenger military plane De Havilland DHC-8 is already ready for boarding. We fly to Sirte in LibyaIn 2015, the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) has turned that coastal city into its biggest stronghold outside of Iraq and Syria. It was only after several months of fierce fighting that the city was liberated by Libyan forces with air support from the United States. But that was not the last battle for Sirte, as the country was already sinking into civil war.
After years of conflict, rival factions in Libya agreed to a ceasefire in 2020. However, the oil-rich country remains effectively divided as of 2014.
Western Libya is controlled by the Government of National Unity, an internationally recognized interim government based in Tripoli, headed by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. The east of the country is governed by the Tobruk-based Government of National Stability under the leadership of Osama Hamad, with the support of General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army.
This week, a US-led military exercise called Flintlock 2026 began in Sirte. About 30 countries from Europe and Africa are participating. The exercise has been held in the region since 2005, but this year, for the first time, Libyan forces are participating. Libya, along with Ivory Coast, is one of the hosts.
We are back on our plane. Lt. Gen. John Brennan sits in the front row. The deputy commander of the US Africa Command is on his way to Sirte to open the exercise. In the conversation, he repeatedly points out how extraordinary it is that Flintlock 2026 brings together Libyan forces from the east and west of the country. "The Libyan people deserve a unified security force that will protect the country and its interests," says Brennen. "Security brings prosperity."
In the following hours, it was repeatedly emphasized that during the 2026 exercise, soldiers from both sides train side by side and wear the same uniforms, despite the division of the country. Why is the United States getting involved? Brennen dryly replies: "Libya is a key area for NATO's southern neighborhood."
Western intelligence services are concerned about the activities of terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda in the region. Their branches seem to be growing in West Africa: they attack military targets and civilians and kidnap people. And Washington believes that a stable Libya could help prevent the strengthening of those groups and their future attacks outside Africa.
But it is also about very specific economic interests. Our goal is to focus more strongly on "where U.S. security and economic interests overlap," says one official. This is in line with the US National Security Strategy, which defines economic security as one of the priorities, including access to critical minerals. The Trump administration is indeed seeking to secure access to resources in the region, but the same is true for other actors.
Russia is also very interested in Libyan oil and gold reserves. Russian mercenaries of the Wagner group, now called "Africa Corps", have been present in the country since 2019. They support General Khalifa Haftar in the east and supply weapons and equipment. China's African strategy is more focused on securing long-term access to critical minerals, for example by purchasing significant mining operations.
After five hours of flight, we finally arrive in Sirte. A seemingly endless column of all-terrain vehicles drives us to the training ground. Every few hundred meters along the route we see soldiers, police and armored vehicles.
The exercise scenario is simple: terrorists have kidnapped a group of refugees and are holding them hostage. Libyan and American special forces must free the hostages and eliminate the terrorist threat - a task they quickly complete in front of generals and other dignitaries. Among them is the Italian ambassador to Libya.
"For Italy, Europe and the US, a united Libya will be able to bring stability to the entire region," says Gianluca Alberini. What would he say to those who doubt that the rival factions in Libya are really striving for the unification of the country? Alberini admits that it is an ongoing "process", but considers the "decisive factor" to be greater involvement of the United States in the region.
Even two years ago, such a joint military exercise, with a new joint operations center for all Libyan armed forces, seemed unthinkable. Today in Sirte, the military commanders of rival factions are giving speeches in which they say that the path to unification is "not a choice, but a necessity."
Brennen says the scale of the potential for economic investment "represents an incentive to unify" rival groups in Libya. Other DW interlocutors in Sirte agree with this. Some point out that the unification of the Libyan army into a single armed force could also marginalize Russian influence.
After military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Western forces were driven out of the Sahel. Instead of them, the rulers there received Russian mercenaries. Neither the United States nor the Europeans want such a scenario to be repeated in other countries.
As of 2024, Russia has doubled its military presence in West Africa. In Libya, too, the Kremlin would obviously like to strengthen its influence. In 2024, the embassy in Tripoli was reopened, and according to reports, Russia is now also using an abandoned military base near the border with Chad and Sudan.
"We are concerned about Russia's significant military presence in Libya, that is, on the southern wing of NATO," says the British ambassador in Sirte, Martin Reynolds. "We would like to see a government that we can work closely with," a government "that doesn't need to involve foreign powers in the way that is happening now."
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