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Menfi in Turkey for Talks on Mercenary Pullout from Libya

Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi (left) and his deputy Abdullah al-Lafi (right) meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday. (Reuters)
Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi (left) and his deputy Abdullah al-Lafi (right) meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday. (Reuters)
    Ankara, Cairo - Saeed Abdulrazek and Khaled Mahmoud
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Menfi in Turkey for Talks on Mercenary Pullout from Libya

Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi (left) and his deputy Abdullah al-Lafi (right) meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday. (Reuters)
Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi (left) and his deputy Abdullah al-Lafi (right) meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday. (Reuters)

New head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohammed al-Menfi and his deputy Abdullah al-Lafi held talks in Istanbul on Friday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The meeting focused on the developments in the North African country and cooperation with Ankara.

Turkish presidency sources said the discussions, which were attended by president spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, tackled means to develop Libyan-Turkish relations on all levels.

Menfi was invited to Turkey by Erdogan. It is his first to the country since assuming his position at the helm of the Presidential Council, which will run the country until elections are held in December.

Informed sources said Menfi and Erdogan discussed the new Libyan administration’s commitment to understandings and agreements that were struck by the Government of National Accord, which was headed by Fayez al-Sarraj.

Erdogan expressed his support for the new Government of National Unity (GNU) as it seeks to achieve stability in Libya.

Turkey has yielded to international pressure and started to pull out this week Syrian mercenaries it had brought to Libya to prop up the GNA during its battle against the Libyan National Army in 2019. Ankara has so far withdrawn some 120 Syrians and more will follow.

Prior to traveling to Istanbul, Menfi had visited Cairo on Thursday where he held talks with President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, who underscored Egypt’s complete support to the new interim Libyan authority.

In a telephone call with Asharq Al-Awsat, one of Menfi’s aides revealed that his trip to Turkey was aimed at resolving the mercenaries file, especially pro-Turkish Syrian fighters.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the aide said Menfi was seeking to ride the wave of international and regional support and demands for ending foreign presence in Libya “as soon as possible”.

The withdrawal should set the right conditions on the ground to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in December, he added.

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Arab World

Syrian Opposition Leader Says Lebanon Truce Opened Door to Aleppo Assault

An anti-regime fighter tears off a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his brother Maher at the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2024. (AFP)
An anti-regime fighter tears off a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his brother Maher at the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2024. (AFP)
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Syrian Opposition Leader Says Lebanon Truce Opened Door to Aleppo Assault

An anti-regime fighter tears off a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his brother Maher at the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2024. (AFP)
An anti-regime fighter tears off a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (L) and his brother Maher at the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2024. (AFP)

Syrian opposition fighters began preparations to seize Aleppo a year ago, but the operation was delayed by war in Gaza and ultimately launched last week when a ceasefire took hold in Lebanon, the head of Syria's main opposition abroad told Reuters.

The factions were able to seize the city and parts of neighboring Idlib province so quickly in part because Hezbollah and other Iran-backed fighters were distracted by their conflict with Israel, Hadi al-Bahra said in an interview on Monday.

The Turkish military, which is allied with some of the opposition and has bases across its southern border in Syria, had heard of the armed groups' plans but made clear it would play no direct role, he added.

The assault in northwestern Syria was launched last Wednesday, the day that Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah began a truce ending more than a year of fighting.

"A year ago they started really training and mobilizing and taking it more seriously," said Bahra, president of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, the internationally-recognized Syrian opposition.

"But the war on Gaza ... then the war in Lebanon delayed it. They felt it wouldn't look good having the war in Lebanon at the same time they were fighting in Syria," he said in his Istanbul office, in the first public comments on the fighters’ preparations by an opposition figure.

"So the moment there was a ceasefire in Lebanon, they found that opportunity ... to start."

The opposition operation is the boldest advance and biggest challenge to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.

Syrian and allied Russian forces have launched counter attacks, which Bahra said are "destabilizing" Aleppo and Idlib and pose the biggest risk to civilians, given the earlier opposition advances had sought carefully to avoid such casualties.

IRAN, RUSSIA

The opposition retaking of Aleppo also paves the way for hundreds of thousands of Syrians displaced elsewhere in the country and in Türkiye to return home, Bahra said.

"Due to the Lebanese war and decrease in Hezbollah forces, (Assad's) regime has less support," he said, adding Iranian militias also have less resources while Russia is giving less air cover due to its "Ukraine problem".

Damascus, which is also backed by Iran, did not immediately comment on whether the opposition sought to avoid casualties and whether it risks destabilizing the region with air raids. Assad has vowed to crush the fighters and has launched air raids.

Iran-backed Hezbollah did not immediately comment on whether its war with Israel opened the door to Syrian opposition advances in Aleppo, where it also has personnel.

Tehran has pledged to aid the Syrian government and on Monday hundreds of fighters from Iran-backed Iraqi militias crossed into Syria to help fight the factions, Syrian and Iraqi sources said.

A Turkish defense ministry official said last week that Ankara was closely monitoring the mobilization and taking precautions for its troops.

The opposition fighters are a coalition of Türkiye-backed mainstream secular armed groups spearheaded by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that has been designated a terrorist outfit by Türkiye, the US, Russia and other states.

Bahra's coalition, which does not include HTS, represents anti-Assad groups including the Türkiye-backed Syrian National Army or Free Syrian Army, which took territory north of Idlib over the last week.

It holds regular diplomatic talks with the United Nations and several states.