Paris challenges Turkey over its military involvement in Libya, again exposing itself to criticism of its bias in the conflict. On the occasion of the visit to Paris of the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Emmanuel Macron stressed “Non-compliance with the word given” by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Berlin conference held on January 19, which aimed in particular to suspend military activities. “We have seen in recent days Turkish ships accompanying Syrian mercenaries arriving on Libyan soil”, said the French president.
A French intelligence source recently confirmed to World 1,500 to 2,000 combatants had been routed by Turkey to Libya from Syria, in relative confusion since some of them had already deserted, taking advantage of the trip to reach Italy. Two Turkish frigates, accompanied by their support ships, have been seen in Libyan waters in recent days. For Macron, the flow of mercenaries is “Prejudicial to the security of all Europeans and Sahelians”.
In addition, according to a European diplomatic source confirmed by two experts, Turkey is said to have installed anti-aircraft defense systems at Mitiga airport, some ten kilometers east of Tripoli. Ankara has signed an agreement to support the Libyan National Accord Government (GAN) of Faïez Sarraj. The concern of Europeans is heightened by the events that have taken place over the past 48 hours. Government forces announced on January 28 that they had shot down an Emirati drone in the service of dissident marshal Khalifa Haftar’s forces in Misrata. A rocket attributed to the Syrian National Army (ANL), led by the latter, fell on a school in the Al-Hadhba Al-Badri district, south of Tripoli, killing four children. These facts bear witness both to the strengthening of government capacities and to the marshal’s determination to continue his offensive.
At the end of the international conference in Berlin, a joint declaration called for a “Permanent ceasefire” in Libya, at “Refrain from any interference in the armed conflict” and relaunch the “Political process” shattered by the attack on Tripoli launched in April 2019 by Khalifa Haftar. The translation of this declaration into a resolution at the Security Council at the United Nations has not materialized.
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