Turkey doubles down on the fight in Libya, but its sights are elsewhere

BEIRUT - Libya's aspiring strongman Khalifa Haftar has besieged Tripoli for months in a bid to enter the capital, unseat the U.N.-recognized government and cement his hold over the country. But the septuagenarian general, who heads a grouping of factions styling themselves as the Libyan National Army, has made little headway, despite his many backers.

Now, there is new urgency in his campaign as tensions rise in a nearby flashpoint: the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The saber-rattling began last month, when Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding with the Libyan government in Tripoli establishing economic maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean. The agreement, which went into effect last week, involves the same underwater region where Greece, Cyprus,