ATHENS: The EU must not look “weak” in enforcing a UN arms embargo on Libya, the Greek government said Friday after recent naval incidents involving Turkey.
The embargo was agreed amid efforts to stem the conflict which has racked Libya since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muammar Qaddafi, but Western efforts to enforce it have met limited success.
“We cannot take decisions, and then look weak in enforcing them,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.
He made the remarks at Wednesday’s European People’s Party teleconference and they were quoted by government spokesman Stelios Petsas on Friday.
The Greek call came after NATO launched an official investigation into a naval incident in the Mediterranean between alliance members France and Turkey that has infuriated Paris.
France said one of its ships was subjected to radar targeting by Turkish frigates as it sought to inspect a Tanzanian-flagged cargo vessel suspected of carrying arms to Libya.
A Greek navy vessel was last week also prevented from inspecting the same freighter by its Turkish military escort.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has caused repeated unease at NATO with Turkey’s interventions on Syria and Libya and the contentious purchase from Moscow of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles.
But Turkey’s strategic position between Europe and the Middle East, commanding the southern shores of the Black Sea, make it an important ally.
After months of diplomatic wrangling the European Union set up its own maritime mission, Operation Irini, to try to halt the flow of arms to Libya.
But Irini has struggled for resources and this week EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was forced to make a fresh appeal to member states for ships.
Greece urges EU not to be ‘weak’ on Libya after naval tension
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Greece urges EU not to be ‘weak’ on Libya after naval tension
- Kyriakos Mitsotakis: ‘We cannot take decisions, and then look weak in enforcing them’
- The Greek call came after NATO launched an official investigation into a naval incident in the Mediterranean between alliance members France and Turkey
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
