Turkey facilitated the transit of Syrian militants into Misrata and Tripoli since mid-2019
Cairo – North-Press Agency
Muhammad Al-Yanayri
A Libyan political source in a special statement to North-Press, said on Sunday, that those described as mercenary militants in the ranks of the Libyan armed militias, including a large number of Syrians, some of whom arrived in Libya via Turkey directly, this year. The political source familiar with the details of the operations and battles inside Libya, stressed that since June or July groups of militants were transported from Turkey into Libya secretly, confirming the role of Turkey’s plans early in Libya by facilitating the arrival of those militants to support the militias.
The source stated that those members were transferred directly from Turkey into Misrata and Tripoli, which are under the control of the Turkish backed armed militias, in implementation of the agreement that was concluded between the Turkish President Erdogan and the Presidential Council of the Libyan Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj.
The source explained that the available information confirm that Turkey secretly provided the militias fighting in Tripoli and Misrata with Syrian militants, he added: "but it is not known to me now whether there is a new supply of Syrian militants after the agreement or not, but prominent Syrian monitoring centers confirmed this, and stated that members of the pro-Turkish armed groups will participate with Turkey in its intervention in Libya.”
He stressed: “These news, which we have not confirmed, can be discerned from many things, especially since our information confirm that the militants have already been transferred via Turkey into Libya during this year, and there are Syrian militants in the ranks of militias in Tripoli and Misrata, which means that Turkey has been preparing for a direct military intervention in Libya, as it did not hide its support for the armed militias in the Libyan capital”.
Turkey has officially announced military intervention in Libya, following two separate agreements signed by the Turkish president with al-Sarraj.
Reports have been raised about Ankara's use of its affiliated armed groups in Syria, which define themselves as the "National Army" to participate and intervene militarily in Libya. While the Ministry of Defense of the Interim Government issued a statement denying the participation. Media reports named some of the military leaders involved in the groups, who said they had already arrived in Tripoli to contribute in the training of the militias to confront major-general Khalifa Haftar's forces.