Summary
UAE warplanes secretly bombed Islamist militia targets in Libya, the U.S. government confirmed Tuesday, as turmoil in the country deepened with the Islamists naming a rival premier.
U.S. officials said Monday that the UAE jets launched two attacks in seven days on the Islamists in Tripoli using bases in Egypt.
The bombing raids were first reported by the New York Times, and Islamist forces in Libya had also charged that Egypt and the UAE – two of the region's main anti-Islamist powers – were behind them.
The United States did not take part or provide any assistance in the bombing raids, two U.S. officials told AFP, who could not confirm that Egypt and the UAE had left Washington totally in the dark about the attacks.
The Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) militia alliance – in which the Islamists play a prominent role – seized Tripoli airport over the weekend after weeks of skirmishes with nationalist militia who had controlled it since the ouster in 2011 of Moammar Gadhafi.
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