19 Syrian fighters sent by Turkey to Libya test positive for coronavirus

Up to 19 Syrian militiamen stationed by Turkey in Libya have been diagnosed by COVID-19 as part of the Libyan civil war between Fayez Sarraj's Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar. 

The global plague of coronavirus has so far left more than 67,000 dead and more than 1,250,000 infected around the world; and as for the Libyan population, there is one official death and just over 20 diagnosed, in addition to the mercenaries who could have been infected, as reported by journalist Lindsey Snell about these armed troops fighting alongside the GNA of Libyan Prime Minister Sarraj.

Syrian mercenaries and Turkish Army troops were deployed by Ankara in the North African country after the agreement reached by Fayez Sarraj and the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to support the GNA; an executive that is supported by the United Nations (UN) since 2016.

Several international actors aligned with the opposing rivals participate in Libyan territory.  Khalifa Haftar's LNA and the Executive in the eastern city of Tobruk are supported by Russia, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates; while, on the other hand, the GNA has the aforementioned support from the United Nations (UN) since 2016 and, more recently, from Qatar and Turkey, the latter of which moved military equipment and armed troops (including pro-Turkish mercenaries in the pay of Syria) to Libyan territory following the aforementioned collaboration agreement signed between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj at the end of last year.  

This bond between Turkey and the Libyan NAP also focused on the economic side with a pact on the establishment of jurisdictional water limits and valuable exploitation areas in the Mediterranean arc, where Erdogan has set his sights on gas extraction (this provoked international complaint from Cyprus and Greece, as it would mean entering areas corresponding to Greek islands). 
 

Despite the commitment to the truce made at the last summit in Berlin on 19 January, equipment and soldiers continue to be supplied to the warring parties. This encounter meant the meeting, for the first time in years, of the opposing sides in the Libyan conflict, which has been going on for seven years now and which originated from the clash between the forces that ended up deposing the dictator Muammar al-Qadhafi in 2011. 

In this summit, Sarraj and Haftar (a former member of the military leadership of Gaddafi) agreed on a "comprehensive plan" to solve the problem of the Libyan war, with the implementation of a ceasefire and a verification commission composed of both parties to ensure that it was not breached. Despite this meeting, violent episodes and further escalation of the war occurred under mutual accusations of ceasefire violations.  

Khalifa Haftar already controls a large part of Libya after having extended his influence over the large cities of the south and the western oil fields of Al-Sharara and Al-Fil; it only remains to take Misrata and demolish the bastion of Tripoli, which is the headquarters of the GNA and the target on which the LNA launched a last major offensive that began a year ago.

The LNA claims that its intention is to eliminate the terrorist strongholds in Tripoli in order to establish peace in the country and a subsequent political transition process. Meanwhile, the GNA defends its position by presenting itself as the legitimate political power in Libya in the face of what they understand to be a military rebel coup.  

In the last few hours, at least twenty militiamen under Marshal Jalifa Haftar were killed in fighting with coalition militias that form the city-state of Misrata and the UN-supported GNA in Tripoli.

The armed clashes took place in the south of the capital and allowed the troops to recover territory in towns such as Ain Zara and Wadi al-Rabie, both located on the strategic axis leading to the heart of Tripoli.

The armed clashes took place in the south of the capital and allowed the troops to recover territory in towns such as Ain Zara and Wadi al-Rabie, both located on the strategic axis leading to the heart of Tripoli. "Our forces launched an attack this morning against Haftar forces' positions south of Tripoli and destroyed two UAE-made Tiger Armored Vehicles, five armoured vehicles and a load of ammunition," the official spokesman for GNA’s Volcano of Rage Operation, Abdel Malik al-Madani, told Efe news agency. 

Another security source informed Efe that at least five militiamen belonging to the GNA lost their lives in the clashes that broke out this Sunday, while Colonel Mohamed Qanunu, GNA military spokesman, said that his air force attacked a military cargo plane carrying ammunition to supply Haftar forces in near the city of Tarhuna, next to Tripoli. 

One year after Haftar began the siege of Tripoli, the long civil war has turned into a conflict involving several foreign countries, with Russia and Turkey playing a major role and local militias and mercenary groups coming from outside Libyan territory.  

After the start of this last major offensive on Tripoli in April last year, the civil war has already left more than 1,700 dead and more than 17,000 wounded.