Russian Snipers, Missiles and Warplanes Try to Tilt Libyan War

[Zorro]

The casualties at the Aziziya field hospital south of Tripoli used to arrive with gaping wounds and shattered limbs, victims of the haphazard artillery fire that has defined battles among Libyan militias. But now medics say they are seeing something new: narrow holes in a head or a torso left by bullets that kill instantly and never exit the body.

It is the work, Libyan fighters say, of Russian mercenaries, including skilled snipers. The lack of an exit wound is a signature of the ammunition used by the same Russian mercenaries elsewhere.

The snipers are among about 200 Russian fighters who have arrived in Libya in the last six weeks, part of a broad campaign by the Kremlin to reassert its influence across the Middle East and Africa.

After four years of behind-the-scenes financial and tactical support for a would-be Libyan strongman, Russia is now pushing far more directly to shape the outcome of Libya’s messy civil war. It has introduced advanced Sukhoi jets, coordinated missile strikes, and precision-guided artillery, as well as the snipers — the same playbook that made Moscow a kingmaker in the Syrian civil war.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/world/middleeast/russia-libya-mercenaries.html

[Igel]

1. Yes. And few to none here have cared.

It's Libya, and it's best to stay out and let the Russians win that disaster. It's best not to mention it at all, actually, because it's an embarrassment. (Personally, I find it not much better than Syria. Loathed Qaddhafi, but saw nothing good coming from knocking over a despotic anthill that kept the lid on a number of separatist movements and wannabe allies of AQ.) It's also not important to mention it because it doesn't assist in the Cause.

This was new news a couple of months ago. Now it's stale but still relevant, but still both embarrassing and irrelevant to anything Truly Important (tm).

[Blue_Tires]

2. Greenwald and Scahill were unavailable for comment