Captured LNA pilot: Even with UAE air and Russian FOs, Haftar's ground rabble can't take or hold ground. Haftar and his UAE controllers are running the war from al Marj after unassing al Jufra. The cranky old Russian-trained artillery officer is losing.
The decision of Haftar to inject clownish amateurs like Erik Prince and Russian/Janjaweed mercenaries into this local conflict was a large part in bringing in Turkey in to end the madness. Even though Turkey knows the Libyans are leery of outside influence with historic baggage. 
This historic resonance of Ottoman-controlled Tripoli from 1551 to 1864 may actually crystalize the American government into understanding the relevance of unchecked "pashas" and "pirates" in the Mediterranean. The "Great Siege of Malta" redux. East vs West etc.
Trivia. Erik Prince created his Somali anti piracy because he read the 2005 best seller “The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines and the Secret Mission of 1805”. It's why he renamed his failed Blackwater ship the "Eaton" #BadHistoryReading cimsec.org/maritime-story…
In 1776, the Dey of Algiers offered this price list for white American slaves but the U.S. was only allowed to offer $200 each. gutenberg.org/files/35222/35…
Good read on Turks and Tripoli in 1845: "The aspect of the city of Tripoli is the most miserable of all the towns I have seen in North Africa. And they say, "It grows worse and worse." Yet the present Pasha, Mehemet, is esteemed as a good and sensible man."gutenberg.org/files/22094/22…
Sick burn: "The Turks always adopt and caricature the worst parts of European civilization, leaving its better forms wholly unimitated. This is, perhaps, in the nature of the struggles which a semi-barbarous power may make to attain the standard of its civilized neighbour."
1804: The America view- "The bombardment itself was ineffective, as were the follow-up attacks, and the campaign was not decided until 1805, when a force of Marines and mercenaries captured Derna, forcing the Pasha to sue for peace." history.navy.mil/research/libra…
Can history provide lessons? Not if we don't read it. history.navy.mil/research/libra…
Nice little 2011 splainer on Libyan history and predicted today's events. the-american-interest.com/2011/09/01/lib…
