Rain drizzles as we gather on the runway at the Stuttgart army airfield in southern Germany. It’s 2:30 a.m., time for takeoff. A Dash 8 airliner is ready for boarding. The military plane will take us to Sirte in Libya. In 2015, the extremist group known as the “Islamic State” turned the coastal city into its largest stronghold outside Iraq and Syria. Only after months of heavy fighting was it liberated by Libyan armed forces, with support from US airstrikes. But this was not the last battle in Sirte. The country was already engulfed in a civil war.
After years of fighting, rival factions agreed to a ceasefire in 2020. But the oil-rich nation has remained divided between two administrations since 2014. Now Libya’s west is controlled by the Government of National Unity (GNU), an internationally recognized UN-brokered provisional government based in Tripoli under Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah. The eastern administration is based in Tobruk and led by Osama Hammad, backed by the warlord-turned-politician Khalifah Haftar.
This week, Flintlock 2026, a US-led special operations exercise with 30 nations participating, kicked off in Sirte. Flintlock has been held around the continent since 2005, with European and African countries participating. But this year, for the first time, Libyan forces from both sides of the country are taking part and Libya is hosting parts of the exercise.
On board the Dash 8, the VIP of the day is Lieutenant General John Brennan, deputy commander of US Africa Command, on his way to observe the training. He repeatedly emphasizes how remarkable it is to bring together Libyan forces from east and west. “The Libyan people deserve unified security forces to protect them and their interests,” Brennan says. “Security breeds prosperity.”
Having soldiers from both sides train together, wearing the same uniform during Flintlock 2026, is considered a major achievement. When asked about the purpose of US engagement, Brennan says, “Libya is a critical key terrain for NATO’s southern neighborhood.”
Western intelligence agencies are highly concerned about activities by terrorist groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda across the region. These groups are expanding quickly in Africa, especially in the Sahel, kidnapping civilians and launching major attacks. From the US perspective, stabilizing Libya is also about preventing such threats from spreading beyond the region.
The exercise is also about economic opportunities. The goal is to identify where US security and economic interests overlap, a US defense official says. This aligns with the US national security strategy, which prioritizes economic security, including securing access to critical supply chains and materials. The administration under US President Donald Trump is described as eager to gain access to resources in the region.
Other actors have similar aims. Russia has interests in Libya’s oil and gold reserves. Its Wagner Group mercenaries, now rebranded as the Africa Corps, have been active since 2019, delivering military equipment and collaborating with forces aligned with Haftar. Meanwhile China’s strategy in Africa focuses on securing long-term access to critical minerals by acquiring major mining assets.
After a five-hour flight, we’re in Sirte. A long convoy of SUVs takes us to the training site, with soldiers, police and armored vehicles along the route. The training scenario: terrorists have kidnapped migrants and hold them hostage. Libyan and US special forces must free the hostages and eliminate the threat. Forces move quickly under visiting generals and dignitaries, including Italy’s ambassador to Libya, Gianluca Alberini.
“For Italy, Europe and the US, a united Libya will be able to provide stability to the whole region,” Alberini says. Asked whether competing factions are truly committed to unity, he acknowledges it is a process and calls greater US engagement “a big factor.”
Two years ago, a drill like this, with a joint operations center for all Libyan forces, was almost unimaginable. Now Libyan military chiefs from east and west speak in Sirte about reunification as “not a choice but a must.” Brennan says the magnitude of potential economic investment “is an incentive for a reunification.” Many officials in Sirte believe unifying the Libyan military could also minimize Russia’s influence.
Following coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Western forces were largely expelled from the Sahel as successive governments turned to Russia. Neither the US nor Europeans want that scenario to repeat in nearby countries. Since 2024, Russia has doubled its military deployment in West Africa and is actively seeking to enhance its presence and influence in Libya as well. It reopened an embassy in Tripoli in 2024 and reportedly transferred personnel and military equipment to an abandoned base near the border with Chad and Sudan.
“The significant Russian military presence in Libya on the southern flank of NATO is obviously a concern for us,” British Ambassador Martin Reynolds says in Sirte. “We would like to see a government we can work closely with, one which does not see the need to bring in foreign powers in the way it is currently happening.”
Edited by: Maren Sass