Netanyahu, Vance, Guilfoyle. The network Haftar wants to forge

On Monday, Abu Dhabi was the destination for a pilgrimage by several Middle Eastern leaders, foremost among them Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the Associated Press, the Israeli Prime Minister is said to have flown to the United Arab Emirates to attend a secret meeting with President Mohammed bin Zayed and ask him to publicly disavow the scoop published by the newspaper Haaretz regarding the report passed on to the Israelis by Emirati intelligence, which warned of the attacks on 7 October and which Netanyahu is alleged to have ignored. But apart from the content of the summit, what aroused curiosity was the flurry of state flights landing at the Emirati airport of al Bateen at roughly the same time as Netanyahu’s arrival. Among those from Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, flight-tracking websites identified one in particular, coming from Benghazi: an Airbus A-319 with registration number P4-KH5I9. This is the aircraft usually used by Saddam Haftar, the deputy commander-in-chief of eastern Libya; it was previously registered in the name of the Alushibe Holding group and later transferred to a company called Forte Strategy General Trading. What drew attention to this flight was its landing time – 12.40 – just twenty minutes after Netanyahu’s arrival at the same airport. According to Mohamed Buisier, a former political adviser to Khalifa Haftar, Saddam’s father, this was no coincidence: “Saddam met Netanyahu to secure political support for his bid for the Libyan presidency,” he commented on X.

This is not the first time Saddam has secretly met with senior figures from the Jewish state. In 2021, Haaretz had tracked one of his planes at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, where Haftar was reportedly to meet Mossad agents. In October of the same year, the Israeli daily Israel Hayom also reported on an agreement signed between the Haftars and an Israeli lobbying and communications firm, brokered by the United Arab Emirates. As for why Saddam has an interest in strengthening his secret relationship with Israel at this very moment, one must consider the damage to his reputation that the Benghazi leader is suffering following the revelation of the role he played in the Libyan-Spanish terrorist cell in Zawiya and Tripoli. The fact that the prospective leader of a unified Libya – the man on whom the Trump Administration has staked everything – orchestrated attacks on infrastructure and on military and political leaders in western Libya now compels Haftar to re-establish his legitimacy with Washington. A meeting with Netanyahu could form part of this strategy.

At the same time, however, Saddam is also pursuing other avenues paved by Ballard Partners, the American consultancy firm which has been looking after the interests of the young Libyan commander since last March. Il Foglio understands that Saddam is set to meet U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance in Washington, following a meeting in the United States in June with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “He wants to establish himself as an indispensable leader,” informed sources tell Il Foglio, “even as he blows up oil infrastructure in western Libya with drones.”

However, Vance is not the only one involved. Haftar is seeking ties that go beyond the photo opportunities arranged by Ballard Partners – as was the case with Rubio – and which translate into genuine political backing. In addition to the meeting with Netanyahu, Il Foglio understands that Haftar is also attempting to establish contacts with Kim Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece. The link is said to be Refaat al Abbar, a staunch loyalist of Haftar’s and his ‘shadow man’ at the National Oil Corporation (NOC), according to UN reports. In recent days, a power struggle has flared up between al Abbar and Mohamed Dabaiba, son of Tripoli’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid, over control of an NOC subsidiary, Waha Oil and Gas. Dabaiba has effectively taken control of it, and it is no coincidence that in recent days there has been a series of acts of sabotage against oil infrastructure in western Libya at the hands of the Zintan tribes, who are close to Haftar. Sources at Il Foglio report that, in order to regain control of Waha Oil and Gas, the Haftars are currently attempting to secure Guilfoyle’s mediation.

An investigation published two days ago by the Wall Street Journal accused the U.S. ambassador—who is also the former girlfriend of Trump’s eldest son—of having unfairly favored the sale of liquefied natural gas produced in the United States. The allegations are serious, and it remains to be seen whether they will have repercussions on Guilfoyle’s position. In any case, Saddam is on the lookout for a new backer who can make him untouchable, given that Massad Boulos – Trump’s father-in-law, who backed the precarious plan for the unification of Libya – risks becoming the first casualty following the news of the Libyan terrorist cell case. If Boulos is politically finished, Guilfoyle is considered a viable alternative. “After all,” as explained to Il Foglio, “it’s as if she, too, were part of the Trump family.”