Libyan National Army: Turkey Building Secret Military Base in Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport

A convoy vehicle is seen after reopening of the Mitiga airport in Tripoli, Libya October 29, 2019. (Reuters)
A convoy vehicle is seen after reopening of the Mitiga airport in Tripoli, Libya October 29, 2019. (Reuters)
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Libyan National Army: Turkey Building Secret Military Base in Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport

A convoy vehicle is seen after reopening of the Mitiga airport in Tripoli, Libya October 29, 2019. (Reuters)
A convoy vehicle is seen after reopening of the Mitiga airport in Tripoli, Libya October 29, 2019. (Reuters)

Turkey has started building a military base inside Mitiga International Airport in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, an informed source revealed.

The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Turkish military and intelligence officials were present at the base.

Mitiga is the only functional airport in western Libya. Fighting forced the closure of Tripoli International Airport in 2014 and it has been shut ever since.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said Ankara is planning to bolster its military presence in Libya through a secret military base. Turkish officers are also assisting at the operations command center affiliated with militias that are loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA).

The source’s comments coincided with reports that said Turkey was seeking to bring in more mercenaries and fighters from Kenya and Somalia to back the GNA.

Meanwhile, Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari released on Thursday video footage from inside a Turkish vessel that had unloaded modern weapons and military equipment at Tripoli port on Tuesday night.

Mismari deemed the development a Turkish “invasion” that violates all international laws and norms, as well as the ceasefire in the western region.

The spokesman also released photos of the military shipment.

France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier this week spotted a Turkish frigate escorting a cargo ship delivering armored vehicles to Tripoli in defiance of a UN embargo, a French military source said Thursday, according to AFP.

The cargo ship Bana, sailing under a Lebanese flag, docked in Tripoli port on Wednesday, said the source, who asked not to be named.

According to the Marine Traffic specialist website, the vessel was recorded Thursday off the coast of Sicily.

The claim came a day after President Emmanuel Macron accused his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan of failing "to keep his word" to end meddling in the north African country.

Specifically, Macron said Turkish ships had in recent days been seen taking ships laden with pro-Ankara Syrian mercenaries to Libya.

Meanwhile, United Nations envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame was set to meet with LNA commander Khlifa Haftar in the eastern city of Benghazi to persuade him to join the ten-member committee that would oversee the fragile truce in Libya.

The formation of the committee was agreed during last month’s Berlin conference. It will be comprised of five members from each of the LNA and GNA.

The committee is set to meet in Geneva on Tuesday, but that has been put to doubt over Haftar’s failure to name his candidates to the body.



Israel Halts Aid, Official Says, as Gazan Clans Deny Hamas is Stealing It

Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Halts Aid, Official Says, as Gazan Clans Deny Hamas is Stealing It

Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)

Israel has halted aid supplies to Gaza for two days to prevent them being seized by Hamas, an official said on Thursday after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks whom clan leaders said were protecting aid, not diverting it to the militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz, said late on Wednesday that he had ordered the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid.

The decision was made after Netanyahu and Katz cited new information indicating that Hamas was seizing aid intended for civilians in northern Gaza. The statement did not disclose the information but a video circulating on Wednesday showed dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that aid deliveries had been temporarily suspended for two days to allow the military time to develop a new plan.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli prime minister's office, the defense ministry or the Israeli military.

The Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs, which represents influential clans in the territory, said that trucks had been protected as part of an aid security process managed "solely through tribal efforts". The commission said that no Palestinian faction, a reference to Hamas, had taken part in the process.

Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for more than two decades but now controls only parts of the territory after nearly two years of war with Israel, denied any involvement.

Throughout the war, numerous clans, civil society groups and factions - including Hamas' secular political rival Fatah - have stepped in to help provide security for the aid convoys.

Clans made up of extended families connected through blood and marriage have long been a fundamental part of Gazan society.

ACUTE SHORTAGE

Amjad al-Shawa, director of an umbrella body for Palestinian non-governmental organisations, said the aid protected by clans on Wednesday was being distributed to vulnerable families.

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants.

Aid trucks and warehouses storing supplies have often been looted, frequently by desperate and starving Palestinians. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies.

"The clans came ... to form a stance to prevent the aggressors and the thieves from stealing the food that belongs to our people," Abu Salman Al Moghani, a representative of Gazan clans, said, referring to Wednesday's operation.

The Wednesday video was shared on X by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who claimed that Hamas had taken control of aid allowed into Gaza by the Israeli government. Bennett is widely seen as the most viable challenger to Netanyahu at the next election.

Netanyahu has also faced pressure from within his right-wing coalition, with some hardline members threatening to quit over ceasefire negotiations and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The war began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In response, Israel launched a military campaign that has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to local health authorities in Gaza.

At least 103 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire over the past 24 hours, local health authorities said, including some shot near an aid distribution point, the latest in a series of such incidents. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Twenty hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, while Hamas is also holding the bodies of 30 who have died.