TRIPOLI: Warplanes of the United Arab Emirates secretly bombed Islamist militia targets in Libya, apparently catching Washington off guard, as turmoil in the North African country deepened.

US officials said the UAE jets launched two attacks in seven days on the Islamists in Tripoli using bases in Egypt.

An Emirati official said only that his country had “no reaction” to the report, while Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri on Tuesday denied any “direct” role by his country.

The air strikes signalled a step towards direct action by regional Arab states that previously have fought proxy wars in Libya, Syria and Iraq in a struggle for power and influence.

The bombing raids were first reported by The New York Times, and Islamist forces in Libya had also charged that Egypt and the UAE — two of the region’s main anti-Islamist powers — were behind them.

“The UAE carried out those strikes,” one US official said on condition of anonymity.

Asked about the account, a senior US official said “the report is accurate”.

The United States did not take part or provide any assistance in the bombing raids, said the two officials, who could not confirm that Egypt and the UAE had left Washington totally in the dark about the attacks.

The first strikes, carried out on Monday last week, focused on militia targets in Tripoli, including a small weapons depot, according to the Times.

A second round south of the city early on Saturday targeted rocket launchers, military vehicles and a warehouse, it said.

Those strikes may have been a bid to prevent the capture of the airport, but the Islamist militia forces eventually prevailed anyway.

The UAE — which has spent billions on US-made warplanes and advanced weaponry — provided the military aircraft, aerial refuelling planes and crews to bomb Libya, while Cairo offered access to its air bases, the Times said.

Egypt’s Shoukri said: “We have no direct tie to any military operation in Libya.”

However, he told journalists in Cairo: “We help the Libyan armed forces by supplying their requirements for training.”

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE view Islamist militants in the region as a serious threat and have cooperated against what they see as a shared danger.

“I think this strike is the unsurprising result of a momentum we’ve seen building in Libya... and within the region amongst Egypt and these Gulf states,” said Frederic Wehrey of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2014