War monitor says Turkey shipped 200 mercenaries from Syria into Libya
Turkey sent about 200 mercenaries from Syria into Libya this week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Hundreds of mercenaries are fighting in Libya, where the Turkish-backed Government of National Accord in the capital, Tripoli, has been locked in a nine-year conflict with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army, based in Benghazi.
“To compensate for the return of mercenaries from Libya, nearly 200 fighters belonging to factions loyal to Turkey were secretly transferred from Syrian to Libyan territories,” the Observatory said on Sunday.
About 95 Turkish-backed mercenaries in Libya returned to Syria during the past few days. This happened after mediation efforts by leaders of their group, the monitor said.
The fighters allegedly paid $500 each to doctors in Libya to write reports stating that their health was deteriorating. They then gave the reports to their leaders, who permitted their return. They stopped over in Turkey before returning to Syria.
The Observatory said fighters who returned received a quarter of their agreed monthly salaries, receiving $500 instead of their promised $2,000.
Some claimed they have not been paid for more than five months.
Libya was plunged into chaos after a Nato-backed uprising in 2011 toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Since then, the country has been split between rival administrations
About 95 Turkish-backed mercenaries in Libya returned to Syria during the past few days
in the east and west.
Fighting between them has calmed down in recent weeks after a ceasefire deal was agreed to during talks in Tunisia last year.
Since then, Libyan factions have taken part in UN-led political talks which have made progress towards an agreement on a new transitional government that will oversee the run-up to elections in December.
The UN chose 75 Libyan officials to participate in the talks that began in November.