This week, one of the most important combined military operations in North Africa began in the Libyan city of Sirte: the Flintlock 2026from which Spain has been excluded due to bad relations with Libya. Captained by USA and to try to place commander Saddam Haftar as leader of a single army in a country divided in two since the fall of Muammar Gadaffi, and which has gone through a long civil war. The maneuvers will last until May 1, and the main novelty is, precisely, the joint participation of Tripoli and Benghazi.
The meeting is not trivial. It will serve to improve international coordination, combat terrorism, increase combat readiness and enhance coordination between African countries and fight against human mafias. In this last point, Libya is a key territory, since many boats full of migrants leave from its coasts heading to Italy. In a context of regulation of foreigners by the Government, the intelligence sources consulted see a “problem” that the Spanish army is not present.
The absence of Spain is aggravated by the panel of countries present this year at Flintlock. In addition to the Americans and the two Libyan sides, Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom are participating in the maneuvers on the European side, a sign of the interest that the country has aroused in recent years in the community territory. Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Mauritania, Chad, Nigeria, Somalia, Angola and Tanzania have come from the African continent. US President Donald Trump’s Middle East and Africa advisor, Massad Boulos, praised Libya’s “continued progress towards a unified national budget and its important role as host of one of AFRICOM’s Flintlock 26 maneuvers” on April 8.
In November of last year, the Tripoli army already stood up to the Ministry of Defense in a large-scale military meeting that took place in Madrid, despite having been formally held by the Spanish ambassador to the African country, Javier Soria.
Conflict with Spain
The Benghazi regime, which is in charge of Flintlock under the supervision of the United States, has maintained an open diplomatic conflict with Spain since 2024. Then, the Civil Guard began an investigation into an alleged sale of dual-use material that implicated senior officials of the African government, although the final report has “deflated” the case in the National Court, as this newspaper reported. The main piece investigates an alleged operation to remove 350 protective helmets, 100 thermal visors, 200 holographic sights and 500 picatinny rails from Spain. All of this valued at 360,950 euros. In reality, only 20 of the scopes reached Libya, since the Civil Guard frustrated the shipment of the remaining material. According to investigators, they tried to take it out of Spain “falsely” by declaring it as hand luggage. All those investigated deny it, as this newspaper learned. In a separate piece, the sale of up to 44 drones for 14.3 million euros was investigated, and another analyzed some alleged skydiving and diving courses that were going to be taught in Totana (Murcia) to 11 Libyan citizens so that they would later, supposedly, join an elite unit of the Libyan National Army.
Intelligence sources from both countries indicate that the case, which is facing its final stretch, is the reason why Haftar has excluded Spanish forces. «They do not want to have any type of relationship with the Government. “They accuse us of being militias, when the rest of the world looks at Libya with different eyes.” Spanish sources indicate that Moncloa has made the decision not to maintain commercial relations with the country.
The case of the National Court raised a diplomatic conflict between Spain and Libya. In the summer of 2024, the marshal’s son, General Saddam Haftar, was detained at Naples airport. The Civil Guard introduced a report into the Schengen system for investigating the sale of dual-use material. Upon returning to Benghazi, Haftar ordered the closure of Repsol’s main field, and Judge Manuel García Castellón, then in charge of the court, had to issue an order making it clear that the Libyan high command was not investigated.
On the Tripoli side, whose army (the LNA) controls 80% of the territory, Repsol has one of its main oil fields in the world. The relationship between the company and the executive has improved in the last two years, with an increase in production. But in the summer of 2024, after Haftar was detained in Italy, the commander gave the order to close the wells in retaliation to the Government of Pedro Sánchez.
The African country is in full reconstruction after the civil war. Sources from the Benghazi Government point out that the plan to build infrastructure includes a budget of “90 billion euros” from which Spain is being left out. Some references in the summary, in which the LNA is identified as a “militia”, have caused “significant anger”, and the Executive has no intention of hiring Spanish companies.