In Libya, if the ceasefire signed last October is still generally respected, the warlords continue to collide through intermediate communication. On Thursday, Marshal Khalifa Haftar called on his troops to “expel the Turkish occupiers”. Ankara’s response was not long in coming.
There is no question for Ankara about losing influence in Libya. On an official visit to Tripoli with a delegation of senior officials, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akara attended a graduation ceremony of Libyan officers who had just been trained in Turkey on Saturday. There he met his counterpart from the Government of National Unity led by Fayez el-Sarraj and the President of the High Council of State.
On this occasion, he spoke to them about “the continuation of coordination to repel any hostile attempt by the outlaws of Khalifa Haftar’s outlaws.”
If the cannons are dead in Libya since the ceasefire agreement signed in October last year, the level of hostility is very high among the warriors. The Turkish defense minister’s statement is seen as a response to Khalifa Haftar’s inflammatory statement on Thursday, according to which there could be no peace in Libya “in the presence of a colonizer” referring to Turkey.
Last June, Marshal Haftar’s forces had to give up taking the capital after more than a year of fighting despite support from Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and some Western countries. The government in Tripoli had been able to rely on the support of Qatar, but above all drones and Turkish military advisers, but also Syrian mercenaries assembled by the Turkish army.
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