Fighters: Ban aside, arms get to Libya

CAIRO — Fighters allied with the U.N.-recognized government in Libya’s capital said they have received armored vehicles and “quality weapons” despite a U.N. arms embargo on the country.

A Facebook page linked to the Tripoli government posted photos Saturday appearing to show more than a dozen armored vehicles arriving at port, without saying who supplied them. Supporters of the various militias allied with the government said the vehicles, which resemble Turkish-made Kirpi armored vehicles, were supplied by Turkey.

Spokesmen for Turkey’s military and foreign ministry did not immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last month that his government would stand by Tripoli authorities as they repel an offensive launched by Khalifa Hifter’s self-styled Libyan National Army.

The battle for the Libyan capital has threatened to ignite a civil war on the scale of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The U.N. Security Council imposed an open-ended arms embargo on Libya in February of the same year.

The offensive on Tripoli was launched April 4 by Hifter’s Libyan National Army, which controls the country’s eastern half. Hifter has received support from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.