CENTRAL NEWS
Libyan National Army spokesman Ahmad Mismar announced that a UAV belonging to Turkey was hit. Mismarig shared that every Turkish citizen in Libya are to be arrested, the Turkish military presence within Libya will be targetted, the Libyan airspace is now closed to Turkish aircraft and Turkish ships in the territorial waters of Libya will be targetted.
Ahmed Mismari, the spokesman of the Libyan National Army, said that Turkish targets were defined as enemy targets.
Mismar said in the statement, “a UAV belonging to Turkey has been shot.”
“Turkey and Qatar, are intervening in favour of the militants. Turkey is intervening in the Tripoli war from sea, air and land.”
Turkey Officials have not yet responded to Mismari’s statements. The international air traffic map shows that there is no traffic on the Libyan airspace and that the passenger planes do not prefer this route.
What is happening in Libya
According to Euronews, there is more than one government in the North African country of Libya, where political stability has not been achieved since 2011.
The popular movement, defined as the Arab Spring, turned into anti-regime conflicts and deprived Muammar Gaddafi of his position.
Libya, politically divided into two after the 2014 elections. One of them is the House of Representatives in Tobruk, near the Egyptian border in the east of the country, and the other is the Tripoli-based National Covenant Government.
On the other hand, in the country where ISIS made its presence felt in 2015, fighters affiliated to the organization seized the city of Sirte, the birthplace of Gaddafi.
Misratal forces are supported by Turkey,
Players of the war
- Associations affiliated with the National Memorandum of Understanding (UMH) based in Tripoli. Major General Osama Juveyli is the head of these units.
- Misrata-based forces, which have the largest share in the overthrow of Gaddafi.
- The Libyan National Army of Tobruk-based General Khalifa Hafter, backed by the Gulf states and Egypt.
- Zintan-based forces in the west of the country, near the Tunisian border.
Hafter forces fight at UMH 7 fronts
Hafter forces, which started an attack to seize Tripoli, receded on all fronts, while UMH troops began to counter-attack. The clashes based on the strategy between UMH forces and Hafter forces continue in Ayn Zara, Halletul Fercan, Kasr bin Gashir, Vadi er-Rabi, Al-Matar al-Kadim, Es-Sevani and Al-Aziziye.
Who is General Khalifa Hafter?
General Khalifa Hafter, born in 1943 in Ecdebiye, is one of the major actors of the crisis in oil-rich Libya for the last 5 years. He received military training in the Soviet Union and joined the army led by Gaddafi.
In 1969, he played a role in Gaddafi’s overthrow of King Idris. This step made him one of the most trusted names in Gaddafi.
In 1986, the fact that France was headed by troops in conflict with Chad forces reversed the wind. Libya was defeated, Hafter and his soldiers were captured in 1987. When the Gaddafi soldiers retreated, nothing was ever the same again.
Hafter, who spent years in prison, was exiled to the United States. He was accused of working with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
When the anti-Gaddafi uprising began in 2011, he returned to his country.
In February 2014, he regained strength in the UN-backed elections. Since 2014, Hafter forces have been controlling a large area in the eastern part of the country, including Tobruk and major oil ports.
According to Hafter, he is the only force that can stabilize the country.
