Erdogan and Sarraj announce full control of Tripoli

More than a year after Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Liberation Army (LNA), announced an offensive on the country's capital, Tripoli, and after intense fighting, the rival faction, the Government of National Unity (GNA), led by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, has announced that it has managed to defend its fiefdom and re-establish total control over this strip of territory. 

In a joint press conference held in Ankara, the head of the Libyan government and the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the main stronghold of the GNA, have reported the defeat of the Haftar Army, which has rushed after the battle at Maitika/Mitiga Airport, an important geostrategic point of access to the capital, and which the Marshal also lost after 14 months under his control.

The leader of the Eurasian nation also said during the meeting that "Turkey's priority is the stabilisation of Libya" and that to this end it has become the country that has "most supported" the North African state. Furthermore, he stressed the message that "the only solution is a political solution under the umbrella of the United Nations" - it should be remembered that the GNA was set up by the UN in 2016 - which Haftar does not enter, however, since "it threatens the future of the country", since both he and his army, the LNA, "have been the greatest obstacles to peace in Libya". "We will not leave our Libyan brothers at the mercy of coup-plotters and mercenaries," he repeated, who also said they would protect the Libyan oil market, currently dominated by Haftar. "Oil, which should be used for the well-being of Libya and all Libyans, should not be allowed to be sold illegally by the coup-plotters," Erdogan said.

For his part, the Libyan Prime Minister thanked Turkey for its "strong commitment" with the GNA and reported that, as a reward for the great work of Ankara, he offered a "complete welcome to Turkish companies that want to come to Libya". On Haftar, he reiterated the message of the Eurasian President: "We will not give you the opportunity to negotiate after this," said Sarraj.

In addition, both have agreed to strengthen their cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean, which includes "search and drilling activities, to benefit even more from natural resources," according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu. Gas in this area, it should be remembered, has been a focus of latent dispute between Turkey and a group of countries led by Egypt, who defend that where Ankara is carrying out exploration work it belongs to the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus, which implies a violation of its sovereignty.

It has also been known this Friday that the GNA has already recovered the enclave of Tarhuna, located 80 kilometers southeast of Tripoli, according to a military source in Anadolu, another geostrategic point of great importance to decide the fate of the civil war because of its location. In addition, the spokesman of the Sarraj Army has informed that the following movements of the GNA contemplate the capture of Sirte, Kufra and the oil fields in the south of the country, currently controlled by Haftar.

So far, there has been no official reaction from the LNA to the joint announcement by Erdogan and Sarraj. On their official Twitter account, the latest posts are denunciations against the arrival in Libya of new Syrian mercenaries supported by Turkey and their use in the Libyan war in the ranks of the GNA. They also include the latest statement from the country's Supreme Council of Sheikhs and Elders, criticising the involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood organisation in the Turkish intervention. "All the political parties and civil institutions that came out of the womb of the Brotherhood have ruined the Libyan political scene," they regret.

In any case, it is foreseeable - above all, in view of past experience - that the LNA will decide to respond with a counter-offensive to try to regain lost ground. In fact, on Thursday, Haftar asked Egypt for more support to stop the Turkish intervention in Libya. It is not yet known whether the country led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will respond favorably to his request, but given the growing hostility from Cairo towards Ankara, it is likely that this will happen.

Italy, the only official European ally of the GNA in the Libyan battle - since France supports the LNA - has also moved in the new scenario that is now opening in the African country after Sarraj's victory. According to the latter, the Government of Rome has been granted the exploitation of the Maitikia/Mitiga Airport, which will be rebuilt by an Italian consortium once it has been cleared of the mines that, according to the GNA, Haftar's forces have left behind in their withdrawal. "We have signed an agreement with Italy to receive technical support and skills to remove mines and remnants of war," the Prime Minister said. He also pointed out that the cost of the project for the airfield amounts to 79 million euros, and involves the construction of two terminals: one national and one international, with an area of 30,000 square meters and the potential to receive up to six million passengers a year. The work is expected to take around ten months.

"Our ambition is to have this airport and other airports in Libya as a transit terminal to Africa and Europe and as a tourist centre," said Sarraj.

It has just become known that two days ago, just before the two leaders appeared at a press conference, Russia had begun to approach the GNA, in anticipation of its victory in the battle over Tripoli, which it did. In a statement published by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, reports on the meeting held on 3 June with the vice-president and the foreign minister of the GNA, Ahmed Maiteeq and Mohammed Siala, respectively. During the meeting that took place in Moscow Lavrov "confirmed the desire of Russian companies to resume their activities in Libya after the normalisation of the political-military situation". 

Another gesture of rapprochement was the support he showed "for the initiative presented by the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, on April 23, which creates the basis for starting talks in Libya, with a view to developing commitments to overcome existing problems and forming unified government bodies in the country.

However, Lavrov also used the summit to call on his counterpart to release, "as soon as possible and without preconditions," Russian citizens Maxim Shugaley and Samer Sueifan, who were detained in Tripoli in May 2019, this being "the main obstacle to progress in mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries".