Türkiye Sends New Batch of Syrian Mercenaries to Libya

 Part of a military training for Libyan forces monitored by Turkish officers in the outskirts of Tripoli. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Part of a military training for Libyan forces monitored by Turkish officers in the outskirts of Tripoli. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Türkiye Sends New Batch of Syrian Mercenaries to Libya

 Part of a military training for Libyan forces monitored by Turkish officers in the outskirts of Tripoli. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Part of a military training for Libyan forces monitored by Turkish officers in the outskirts of Tripoli. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Türkiye has sent a new batch of Syrian mercenaries to Libya, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Thursday.

The war monitor said a Turkish aircraft took off from the capital Ankara carrying Syrian mercenaries which Turkish intelligence recruits. They arrived in Misrata to take part in the Libyan war.

On September 13, the SOHR reported heavy mass discontent among the Syrian mercenaries in Libya due to the discrimination between the commanders and the mercenaries.

This came against the backdrop of delaying the transfer of the corps of a Syrian young man from al-Sultan Murad armed faction to be buried in northwestern Syria, where his family sought refuge.

The Turkish forces kept his body in the refrigerator for nearly a week until the return of several commanders of Turkish-backed factions.

According to the war monitor, Ankara resumed in August the back-and-forth transfer of Syrian mercenaries operating in Libya following the decision in late June to halt the transfer process until the end of 2022.

It revealed that nearly 420 Syrian mercenaries were sent back to Syria from Libya via Türkiye.

A previous SOHR report also stated that the Turkish intelligence asked leaders of the Syrian factions loyal to it to keep their members fully prepared to be transferred to Libya once requested.

Thousands of Turkish forces have been sent to Libya to fight along dozens of mercenaries from armed factions loyal to Türkiye.

This comes in line with the memorandum of understanding on security and military cooperation signed in November 2019 between Türkiye and the Government of National Accord (GNA) then headed by Fayez al-Sarraj.

In this context, Itamilradar, which specializes in monitoring military aircraft movements over Italy and Mediterranean Sea, tracked three Turkish Air Force flights to Misrata.

It reported tracking three flights that took off from Ankara and arrived in Misrata and al-Watiya in western Libya.

Türkiye considers its military presence in Libya “legal.”

Ankara says its presence in Libya is aimed at helping the country establish a unified army that brings together all the forces from the east and west under one umbrella.

The Turkish parliament approved in June to extend the armed forces' mandate in Libya for another 18 months from July 2, at the request of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It argues that its efforts to build democratic institutions following the February 2011 incidents were in vain due to the armed conflicts that led to the emergence of a fragmented administrative structure in the country.



52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said Saturday. Also, 24 others were fatally shot on their way to aid distribution sites.

The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said. Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. The military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.

The Hamas-led group killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 57,000 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 in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war. But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough.