LNA Denies Haftar Seeking to Allow Russia to Set up Military Base in Libya

LNA commander Khalifa Haftar is seen with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov during the former’s visit to Russia in September. (AFP)
LNA commander Khalifa Haftar is seen with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov during the former’s visit to Russia in September. (AFP)
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LNA Denies Haftar Seeking to Allow Russia to Set up Military Base in Libya

LNA commander Khalifa Haftar is seen with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov during the former’s visit to Russia in September. (AFP)
LNA commander Khalifa Haftar is seen with Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov during the former’s visit to Russia in September. (AFP)

An informed source in the Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Khalifa Haftar, denied to Asharq Al-Awsat that the military was planning on reaching an agreement with Russia to allow it to set up a military base in the country.

Bloomberg had reported that Russia was seeking to strike a defense agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Haftar when the latter visited Moscow in September.

It quoted sources as saying that Haftar "was looking for air-defense systems to protect him against rival forces in Tripoli, who have been backed by Türkiye's military."

"He also wants training for his air force pilots and special forces," they said. "In return, a handful of air bases currently occupied by Wagner paramilitaries will be upgraded to host Russian forces."

"Russian warships may also get permanent docking rights at a Libyan port, most likely Tobruk, located just a few hundred kilometers across the Mediterranean from Greece and Italy, according to other people with knowledge of the talks," reported Bloomberg.

A week before his talks with Putin, Haftar met with commander of US forces in Africa General Michael Langley and current US special envoy to Libya Richard Norland. They pressed him to remove foreign forces from Libya.

A military source close to Haftar told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army was "playing its role in protecting Libya from foreign occupation."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, it stressed that the military cooperation agreements with Russia don’t include granting it any facilitations to set up military bases.

"Such misleading reports are aimed at diverting attention from foreign military presence in the country," it added, referring to Turkish and American forces at the Mitiga base in Tripoli and in the al-Watiya base, as well as Italian and British forces at the Misrata air base.

Haftar did not comment on the reports during his meeting on Monday with a delegation of elders and tribal leaders at his headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi.



EU Ministers Discuss Deal with Israel to Increase Gaza Aid

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, talks with Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, left, and Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, right, during the EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, talks with Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, left, and Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, right, during the EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
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EU Ministers Discuss Deal with Israel to Increase Gaza Aid

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, talks with Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, left, and Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, right, during the EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, talks with Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, left, and Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, right, during the EU foreign ministers meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

The European Union is seeking updates from Israel on implementation of a new deal to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to Kaja Kallas, the bloc's foreign policy chief.

Foreign ministers from the EU's 27-member nations are meeting Tuesday in Brussels in the wake of a new aid deal for Gaza largely forged by Kallas and Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar, The AP news reported.

Saar met with EU leaders on Monday after agreeing last week allow desperately needed food and fuel into the coastal enclave of 2.3 million people who have endured more than 21 months of war.

“We have reached a common understanding with Israel to really improve the situation on the ground, but it’s not about the paper, but actually implementation of the paper," Kallas said before the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council.

“As long as it hasn’t really improved, then we haven’t all done enough,” she said, before calling for a ceasefire.

Details of the deal remain unclear, but EU officials have rejected any cooperation with the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund over ethical and safety concerns. Opening more border crossings and allowing more aid trucks into Gaza is the priority, but officials say eventually they’d like to set up a monitoring station at Kerem Shalom crossing.

Kallas said the ministers will also discuss Iran’s nuclear program, concerns over developments in Georgia and Moldova, and new sanctions on Russia. The EU is readying its 18th package of sanctions on Russia, with holdouts within the bloc arguing over the keystone policy of capping oil prices to cut into Moscow’s energy revenues.

European nations like Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain have increasingly called for the EU's ties with Israel to be reassessed in the wake of the war in Gaza.

A report by the European Commission found “ indications ” that Israel’s actions in Gaza are violating human rights obligations in the agreement governing its ties with the EU — but the block is divided over what to do in response.

That public pressure over Israel's conduct in Gaza made the new humanitarian deal possible even before a ceasefire, said Caspar Veldkamp, the Dutch foreign minister. “That force of the 27 EU member states is what I want to maintain now," he said.

“The humanitarian deal announced last week shows that the Association Agreement review and use of EU leverage has worked," said one European diplomat.

Spain's Foreign Minister José Manual Albares Bueno said details of the deal were still being discussed and that the EU would monitor results to see if Israel is complying with those.

“We don’t know whether it we will know how it works,” he said. “It's very clear that this agreement is not the end — we have to stop the war."

The war began after Hamas attacked Israel in 2023 on October 7. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

The EU has observed some aid trucks entering Gaza, but “not enough,” said Hajda Lahbib, the EU Commissioner for humanitarian air and crisis management.

“The situation is still so dangerous, so violent, with strikes still continuing on the ground, that our humanitarian partners cannot operate. So, this is the reality we need to have a ceasefire," she said.