Diplomatic sources and online reports indicate that Turkey sent several sea and air shipments of military equipment to its Tripoli-based allies throughout November and December.
Turkey continued to reinforce its presence at al-Wutiya, an airbase close to the Tunisian border where Turkish officers have been operating since mid-2020. Satellite imagery published suggests that Ankara has transported into Libya HAWK missile batteries and a 3D-Radar.
The UN considers Turkey’s dispatch of military equipment a violation of the arms embargo. Turkey has also been the target of accusations. Libyan MPs accused Turkey of seeking to maintain its political and economic interests in Libya, especially in the west, and to control the country's natural resources.
They warned that Turkey's military involvement in Libya is a threat to the ongoing peace process and the ceasefire deal signed in August between parties to the conflict.
Libyan MPs also decried the Turkish parliament's approval of a bill on Tuesday submitted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to extend the deployment of military troops in war-torn Libya for 18 months, believing that Ankara does not want a solution in Libya because it benefits from unrest and turmoil.
Ali Al-Takbali, a member of the Libyan parliament's defense and security committee stated that Turkey is disregarding international decisions and agreements that stipulate the withdrawal of foreign troops from Libya.
Highlighting Turkey's recent transfer of troops and military equipment to western Libya, Al-Takbali emphasized that Turkey is attempting to obstruct rapprochement between Libya's political forces to protect its interests.
On 9 December, the Haftar-led coalition blamed Ankara for “undermining Libyan sovereignty and its resources” by “dispatching military equipment through an uninterrupted air bridge and transporting mercenaries and foreign fighters to fight the Libyan people”.
An earlier incident may have fuelled the Haftar camp’s distrust of Turkey: on 24 November, a German vessel operating under the umbrella of the EU’s Operation Irini, which is tasked with monitoring violations of the UN arms embargo on Libya, had interdicted another Turkish vessel heading to Libya and suspected of carrying military equipment.
A few days earlier, naval vessels loyal to Haftar stopped a Turkish cargo ship off the eastern Libyan coast. This incident prompted the Turkish foreign ministry to warn that targeting Turkish interests in Libya will have “grave consequences” and that Haftar’s forces will be viewed as “legitimate targets”.
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