Syrian rebel, regime forces fight in Libya

BEIRUT: While a ceasefire in Syria has reduced combat between rebels and government forces, mercenaries from the two sides are still fighting in Libya on behalf of their Russian and Turkish backers. Turkey supports some Syrian rebels and Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord, while Russia supports Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad and Libya’s eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Ankara and Moscow brokered the recent truce in Syria but fighting is ongoing in Libya, where Haftar’s forces have been trying to seize Tripoli for over a year. A recent rapprochement between Assad and Haftar shows the increasing overlap between the two conflicts.

In March, Libya’s parallel eastern government reopened the Libyan embassy in Damascus after it was closed in 2012, while flights resumed recently between the Syrian capital and Benghazi, Haftar’s domain 1,000 km east of the Libyan capital.

A recent confidential United Nations report identified 33 flights by Syria’s private Cham Wings Airline to Libya this year, believed to be carrying Syrian mercenaries. “It is estimated from ground sources that the number of Syrian foreign fighters supporting (Haftar’s) operations is less than 2,000,” wrote the UN experts, who are monitoring an arms embargo on Libya.

The experts alleged that Cham Wings flew the Syrians to Libya for three-month contracts with Russian private military company Wagner, who reportedly recruited the mercenaries to fight for Haftar. Moscow denies any role in the presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya. When the UN panel asked Damascus about the flights to Benghazi, the Syrian government said the flights were for civilians, “particularly those Syrians living in Libya”. – AFP