United Nations experts are investigating last month’s missile strikes in Libya which involved Chinese-made missiles and drones. The panel of experts reported to the UN Security Council that it examined photographs of the debris and identified a Chinese-made Blue Arrow air-to-surface missile, according to Agence France-Presse. The deadly attack on the southern suburbs of Tripoli killed at least 227 people and wounded more than 1,000, according to officials, as forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar battled to seize the capital from the UN-recognised government. The panel said it was “almost certain” that the missiles were not directly supplied by the manufacturer, or by China, to Libya. It has requested information from China to help identify the suppliers. The battle for Tripoli: 220 killed in fighting in just 2 weeks The panel is also investigating the use of Chinese-made drones and a possible role by the United Arab Emirates in the deadly mission carried out by Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army. “Probable use of Wing Loong unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) variants by the Libyan National Army (LNA), or by a third party in support of the LNA” is under investigation by the panel, according to the report sent to the council on Thursday. Wing Loong is a medium-altitude long-endurance drone developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG). The use of the drones was “likely a recent non-compliance of the arms embargo as the weapon system reported on has not been identified in Libya before”, the experts said. Chinese Wing Loong II drones are operated by the UAE government and were reportedly seen circling over the Libyan capital during night raids in recent days. The UAE’s drone fleet includes CAIG Wing Loong and Wing Loong II drones. Jack Watling, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said both types of drones had been used extensively by the UAE in Yemen, and in Libya over the past 18 months. “Initially, this was for surveillance, but it quickly shifted to kinetic operations, most notably the assassination of Saleh al-Samad in April 2018,” Watling said, referring to the former top civilian leader in the armed Houthi movement in Yemen. “Interest in Chinese UAVs was certainly accelerated because the US refused to export armed Predator and Reaper drones to the region. In part it was hoped that buying Chinese UAVs would prompt the US to change policy.” He said US policy had changed to allow exports of armed drones. China is world’s biggest exporter of armed drones, says report Timothy Heath, senior international defence research analyst at the US think tank Rand Corporation, said Chinese drones were “easier for countries to acquire … than from the US”. “US authorities worry that in some cases drones could be used inappropriately to kill political dissidents, minority groups, or other groups that may oppose a regime but not through armed violence,” Heath said. “China has no restrictions. The weapons are available for any regime, no matter how brutal or cruel.” “[Besides,] Chinese armed drones are appealing because they are far cheaper than the US-made drones, and they work well enough.” Bruce Bennett, a senior defence researcher at the Rand Corporation, also said: “China has been aggressive in marketing drones at various air shows, while the US has done more to restrain its drone producers.” “The spread of Chinese drones to various countries is an issue of largely unrestrained Chinese supply ... the Chinese are likely to capture more of the global drone sales,” Bennett said. Indeed, in August last year, Houthi rebels in Yemen said their fighters had shot down an armed CH-4B drone – also manufactured in China – belonging to the Royal Saudi Air Force. Analysts warned the use of the Chinese-made weapons was likely to grow in the future. How China’s scavenger satellites are being used to develop AI weapons “Given the relatively easy access and low cost of Chinese armed drone technology, I anticipate we will see such weapons appear in more and more political conflicts and civil wars around the world,” Heath said. “Activists have already criticised the willingness of countries like the US to use armed drone strikes against targets in Pakistan, often resulting in civilian casualties, and China for selling such weapons to governments, where they could be used to target political targets and civilians,” Heath said. “If the weapons continue to proliferate, there is a risk that the world could see an increase in violence associated with such technologies.”
