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Turkish President Admits Sending Syrian Fighters to Libya

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting at the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey (Turkish Presidential Press Office)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting at the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey (Turkish Presidential Press Office)
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Turkish President Admits Sending Syrian Fighters to Libya

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting at the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey (Turkish Presidential Press Office)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting at the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey (Turkish Presidential Press Office)

Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan said his country has sent Syrian opposition fighters to Libya.

“Turkey is there [in Libya] with a training force. There are also people from the Syrian National Army,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul, referring to opposition fighters who were previously known as the “Free Syrian Army”.

The Turkish president added that the reports are saying Turkey sent mercenaries from Syria, wondering why no one discusses the 2,5000 mercenaries of the Russian company Wagner or the 15,000 mercenaries from Sudan and Chad who fight alongside Libyan National Army (LNA) forces.

“We are in Libya at the invitation of the Libyan people, and the legitimate government representing it,” referring to the memorandum of understanding for military and security cooperation signed with Government of National Accord, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj.

“We will not go out until peace and stability are achieved in Libya,” continued Erdogan.

Several reports had indicated that Turkey sent Syrian mercenaries after they were promised the Turkish citizenship and salaries of up to $2,000 per month, to fight alongside militias loyal to the GNA.

This is the first time Erdogan admits to sending these elements and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimated they were around 3,600 fighters from pro-Turkish factions and brigades in Syria.

The Turkish President reaffirmed that his country will continue to support the GNA and renewed his attack on LNA leader Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, saying that he was “mercenary and has illegal status."

Erdogan's comments came after a surprising meeting in Istanbul with Sarraj, who withdrew from the UN-sponsored Geneva peace talks on Libya, aimed to establish a permanent cease-fire.

The Turkish presidency said the closed meeting between Erdogan and Sarraj was not included in the President's agenda, without giving any further details.

Diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Sarraj briefed Erdogan on the Geneva talks, and the situation after the LNA bombed Tripoli port.

They suggested that Sarraj may have requested further Turkish military support to thwart LNA’s advancement.

Earlier, Haftar visited Moscow where he met the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, and the two agreed on the need to implement the decisions of the Berlin Conference on the Libyan crisis.

For his part, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday that Turkish guarantees in Libya are dependent on a truce between warring sides being upheld.

“If the cease-fire does not continue, the transfer to a political process is very hard. The world condemns, but what is being done to stop Haftar?”

Turkey's special envoy to Libya Emrullah Isler said Friday that Turkey is in Libya in agreement with the legitimate government, referring to Sarraj’s government, denying that Turkey had established a military base in Tripoli.

He indicated that members of the Turkish forces in Libya use bases and camps that were established mainly in Tripoli.

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Arab World

Lebanon Begins Removing Palestinian Arms Outside of Refugee Camps

The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)
The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)
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Lebanon Begins Removing Palestinian Arms Outside of Refugee Camps

The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)
The army enters a position of a Palestinian group. (Lebanese Army)

Lebanon kicked off on Saturday the process of removing weapons in possession of Palestinian factions outside of their refugee camps.

The arms are mainly held by groups allied with the ousted Syrian regime that were based in several areas in the Bekaa, South, Beirut and the border with Syria.

The Lebanese army announced on Saturday that it had taken over three military positions that were affiliated with two Palestinian factions that were close to Bashar al-Assad's former regime.

Two of the positions are in the eastern and western Bekaa and belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command. The third, in Rashaya, belonged to the Fatah al-Intifada group.

A security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army intelligence has been working on this issue for some time now and was close to completely resolving it.

The army said it had seized a large number of weapons and ammunition, as well as military gear.

The removal of the weapons outside state control is part of the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hezbollah and which calls for dismantling all non-licensed military facilities that manufacture weapons in Lebanon.

The agreement also calls for removing all unlicensed weapons starting from regions south of the Litani River.

A similar agreement for the removal of Palestinian weapons was reached in March 2006, but it was never implemented.

A Lebanese security source, however, said that the latest progress in removing the Palestinian weapons has nothing to do with the ceasefire. Rather, it is related to the collapse of Assad's regime.

These factions were loyal to the regime, and they received funding and equipment from it, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Hisham Debsi, the Director of the Tatweer Center for Studies, said the positions the army has taken over are tied to factions that are affiliated with Syrian security agencies.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army should have been able to take over these locations as soon as United Nations Security Council resolution 1559 was issued in 2004.

The Palestinian Authority at the time agreed to the handover of weapons outside and inside refugee camps, but Hezbollah objected to the move and said it needed to be discussed at a dialogue among Lebanese political powers, Debsi went on to say.

At the dialogue, Hezbollah agreed to the removal of weapons inside and outside the camps, but it later thwarted the plan, he added.

The current removal of arms is tied to the implementation of resolution 1701 and others, notably 1559. It is also directly connected to the sudden and dramatic toppling of the Assad regime, he explained.

The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Syria’s interim rulers, had issued orders for Palestinian groups affiliated with the regime to lay down their arms. “These factions, which had raised the Palestinian flag and done nothing but harm the Palestinian and Lebanese people, no longer have their regional and Lebanese backers,” so they had no choice but to yield to the orders, Debsi said.

The conditions are ripe for the Lebanese state to impose its sovereignty, through the army, across all its territories and end the presence of any Palestinian armed groups outside the refugee camps, he stressed.

Moreover, the state has the right to impose its authority over the camps and remove the weapons there, he remarked.

At the moment, the removal of Palestinian weapons does not appear to be a precursor to Hezbollah laying down its weapons in areas north of the Litani.

Such a move demands a “major political decision that is off the table at the moment,” said the sources.