Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar held talks on Wednesday with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte as Turkey prepares to deploy troops to Libya as it grapples with a conflict drawing increasing foreign involvement and concern.
Head of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj was expected to meet with Conte later on Wednesday.
The LNA took control of Sirte, a strategically important city in the center of Libya’s Mediterranean coastline, in a rapid advance on Monday and is seeking to consolidate gains.
Since April, the LNA has also been waging a campaign to take the capital, Tripoli, about 370 km (230 miles) northwest of Sirte, where it is battling forces aligned with the GNA.
GNA forces said they withdrew from Sirte to avoid bloodshed.
Those forces are mainly from the port of Misrata, 190 km east of Tripoli, and had controlled Sirte since driving ISIS militants from the city in late 2016.
On Tuesday afternoon, clashes broke out around al-Washka, on the road between Sirte and Misrata, where LNA sources said nine of their men were killed in an evening drone strike.
On Wednesday, the LNA responded with strikes near the Abu Grein checkpoint, close to al-Washka, where clashes were continuing, LNA military officials said.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the end of hostilities, normalization of life in Tripoli and other cities, and UN-sponsored peace talks.
The conflict is undermining regional security and “triggering irregular migration, further spread of weapons, terrorism and other criminal activities including illicit trafficking,” they said in a statement after meeting in Istanbul. They urged warring parties to declare a ceasefire on January 12.
Tensions have been high after Turkey’s parliament authorized last week the deployment of troops to Libya, following a deal with the GNA on sending military experts and weapons signed into law in December.
The GNA and Turkey signed security and maritime agreements in November last year, angering Mediterranean countries including Greece and Cyprus who also seek to exploit energy resources in the region.
The deals have alarmed Mediterranean and Arab countries and the United Nations, which have slammed Ankara’s meddling in Libya and warned that its intervention may escalate the situation in the already unstable country.
