China Is Providing Drones to Fuel Libya’s Civil War

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By David Axe,The National Interest

The remains of an apparent Chinese-made missile point to an escalating drone war in Libya.

In mid-April 2019, aviation expert Arnaud Delalande received from sources photos that appeared to depict the wreckage of a Chinese LJ-7 air-to-surface missiles. LJ-7 wreckage was found in and around Tripoli on no fewer than four separate occasions on April 17, 20 and 21, 2019, Delalande wrote.

The LJ-7 is the main armament of the Chinese-made Wing Loong drone. The Wing Loong, which is roughly similar to the U.S.-made Predator drone, is popular with Middle East air arms, including those of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Not coincidentally, both Egypt and the UAE have deployed forces for combat in Libya, where the Libyan National Army faction led by warlord Khalifa Haftar is battling the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli.

Haftar’s forces in April 2019 escalated their attacks on the GNA. U.S. president Donald Trump