Turkey’s intervention threatens to become game-changer in Libya

A string of victories by Turkish-backed forces in western Libya this week dealt a heavy blow to the ambitions of aspiring strongman Khalifa Hafter and signalled the arrival of Turkey as a potentially decisive force among the foreign powers battling for supremacy in the Middle East’s biggest proxy war. On Monday, Libyan fighters backed by Turkish firepower captured a major air base west of Tripoli, the capital, used drones to destroy newly arrived Russian air defence batteries, and on Thursday pressed their offensive by ousting Hafter’s forces from a key town south of Tripoli. The triumphs marked a stunning reversal of fortunes for the United Nations-backed Tripoli government, which looked...