Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) has admitted for the first time the presence of “Turkish military experts” in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Their only mission is to train GNA forces fighting Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), it explained.
In an interview with Anadolu News Agency, GNA’s foreign ministry spokesman denied the presence of Syrian fighters or soldiers among his government’s forces in Tripoli.
However, he said a security and military cooperation deal signed by Sarraj and Turkey in November last year includes “sending experts.”
“They are in Tripoli to train our personnel,” the spokesman stressed.
“We are moving with steady steps so far to achieve all that was included in the memorandum of understanding to fully activate it.”
He pointed out that the “GNA took precautionary measures and is aware that Haftar is not a political partner, and will never be.
“He refused to sign the ceasefire agreement in Moscow and rejected the outputs of the Berlin Conference, which clearly indicates that he wants a military resolution, and thus we should face him militarily.”
In an escalating rhetoric, the spokesman stressed that the GNA is ready for a military solution.
“We have provided all our front lines with the necessary equipment and weapons, and we have no other option.”
On Thursday, Turkish Ambassador to Libya Serhat Aksen met with leaders of local Libyan areas and conveyed his country’s commitment to continue providing support for Sarraj’s government.
In press statements following the meeting, Aksen said Haftar seems rejecting dialogue by evading the Moscow and Berlin conferences.
GNA’s Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, for his part, said in a statement on Thursday that the German government supports the GNA and its efforts to solve the Libyan crisis politically not militarily.
During his meeting with German Ambassador to Libya Oliver Owcza, Bashagha accused Haftar of resorting to mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group and Sudan’s Janjaweed and drones to help him break into Tripoli.
He also accused LNA forces of violating the ceasefire in Tripoli, expressing hope to find a political solution soon, provided that these mercenaries return to where they came from.
