Nearly a decade after Benghazi, the U.S. is quietly returning to Libya – By Dan De Luce (NBC News) / May 27 2021
The Biden administration is looking at reopening the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, which has been closed since 2014, two years after the Benghazi attack.
WASHINGTON — The United States is wading back into Libya, with the Biden administration launching a fresh diplomatic bid to pull the country out of a violent spiral and making plans to reopen the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli seven years after it was closed.
Last week, the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat to visit the country since 2014 arrived in Tripoli, and the administration has deployed a team there to work out the daunting logistics of reopening the embassy, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The moves are a contrast to the hands-off approach of the Trump administration, which chose not to impose pressure on governments — including U.S. allies — that have supported proxies in Libya’s civil war in blatant violation of a U.N. arms embargo.
The United Arab Emirates, Russia, Egypt and Turkey have funneled weapons, cash and tens of thousands of mercenaries to competing militias in the country’s chaotic civil war, according to the United Nations, fueling potential terrorism in the region and a migration crisis in which refugees have been crossing the Mediterranean Sea to seek asylum in Europe.
