Loyal Turkish mercenaries release Daesh's prisoners in Libya

Syrian paid militiamen sent by Turkey to the war in Libya released a large number of terrorists from the Daesh jihadist group on Monday. They were being held in captivity in Sorman prison near the capital Tripoli, northwest of Libyan territory, Libyan security sources said. The Turkish air force offered the necessary support to carry out this liberation operation within the framework of cooperation between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Government of National Accord (GNA) of Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, which is facing the National Liberation Army (LNA) of Marshal Khalifa Haftar. 

These insurgent elements had carried out violent actions against the civilian population, the military and members of the security forces of the North African country. In the previous days, the pro-Turkish mercenaries had also released another contingent of jihadists from another prison under the pretext of the health alert created by the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far left one dead and 25 cases diagnosed on Libyan territory. 

Precisely in the city of Sorman, and also in the city of Sabratha, there are detention centres that hold an enormous number of jihadist terrorists who are accumulating many attacks and crimes behind their backs. 

In both cities located to the northwest of the Libyan map, the National Liberation Army of Haftar has suffered a military setback in the last hours during the last operation of siege to the capital Tripoli, headquarters of the GNA, which is being practiced since April 4th by the marshal's armies. 

Military detachments related to the GNA were made this Monday with these coastal locations of Sorman and Sabratha, 60 and 70 kilometers west of Tripoli, respectively, between the capital and Ras Jedir, on the border with Tunisia.

"Our forces have regained control of Sorman and Sabratha and are pursuing the Haftar militia," spokesman Mohamad Gnounou said in an official statement. According to an ANG commander on the ground, Mohamad al-Gammoudi, Sorman and Sabratha were retaken "after six hours of fighting with air cover".

On their Facebook social network account, GNA members posted photos of the war materiel they had seized, including armoured vehicles, rocket launchers and armed vehicles.

Gnounou also announced the conquest of other small towns further south that were dominated by the LNA: Al-Ajaylat, Regdalin and Aljmail.
 

In response, dozens of rockets hit the capital of Tripoli, particularly on the perimeter of the Maitika (Mitiga) airport in the east of the city, leaving at least one person injured and causing damage to a residential neighborhood, Infobae Ousama Ali, a spokesman for the relief services, told reporters. The airport in Maitika is precisely the base of operations of the GNA and its Turkish ally, which operates its air force and drones there. 

On Monday, the LNA's Ijdabiya operations center announced the attack against the control rooms at the air force base hosted in Maitika, under the control of militias loyal to Fayez Sarraj's executive and Turkey. 

Aqila al-Saber, a media officer from Ijdabiya operations center told Al-Ain media that the Libyan Army's artillery and missile units conducted targeted attacks on the detachments of the GNA -Turkish alliance.

On Tuesday, the LNA also announced the downing of two drones in the south and southwest of Tripoli. The Army's Military Information Division in Haftar declared that the air defense platforms of the Armed Forces intercepted a plane that took off from Maitika airport and shot it down south of the capital.

Aqila al-Saber, an official at the Ijdabiya base, told the Al-Ain media that "the air defense units shot down the plane as soon as they tried to attack the army positions".

Al-Saber added that the second drone eventually crashed in the west of the Al-Watiyah military base, southwest of Tripoli. 

This is the continuation of the civil war in Libya, which began in 2014 between several of the protagonists who played an important role in the overthrow of the dictator Muammar al-Qadhafi in 2011. So far, hundreds of people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes. 

The conflict has increased in recent months with the incursion of foreign countries interested in the Libyan nation, especially for its oil fields. The LNA of Khalifa Haftar and its Tobruk Executive in the east are supported by Russia, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates; Meanwhile, on the other side, the GNA has the support of the United Nations (UN) since 2016 and, more recently, with the support of Qatar and Turkey, the latter of which moved military equipment and armed troops (including the aforementioned pro-Turkish mercenaries in pay from Syria) to Libyan territory following the collaboration agreement signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj at the end of last year. 
 

This agreement between the Ottoman nation and the Libyan GNA also focused on the economic aspect with an agreement on the establishment of jurisdictional water limits and valuable exploitation areas in the Mediterranean arc, where Erdogan has set his sights on gas extraction (the latter aspect provoked the international denunciation of Cyprus and Greece, as it allegedly entered areas corresponding to Greek islands). 

Despite the last truce commitment taken at the last Berlin summit on 19 January, there is still transfer of military equipment and soldiers to the warring parties. The conclave on German soil meant the meeting, for the first time in years, of the opposing sides in the Libyan conflict.

At the meeting in the Teutonic city, Sarraj and Haftar (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 appointment, violent episodes and further escalation of the war occurred under mutual accusations of ceasefire violations. 

Marshal Haftar already controls much of Libya after extending his influence over the major cities of the south and the western oil fields of Al-Sharara and Al-Fil. The only thing left for him to do is to take the city-state of Misrata and demolish the resistant stronghold of Tripoli, the headquarters of the ANG and the target on which the LNA launched a last major offensive that has been going on for a year now. Although it has suffered in the last hours from the loss of Sorman and Sabratha, along with other small towns further south. 
 

The LNA justifies its military action by the intention of wiping out the terrorist strongholds in Tripoli in order to bring peace to the country and to achieve a subsequent political transition process. Meanwhile, the GNA presents itself as the legitimate power in Libya in the face of what they understand to be a rebel military coup. 

The LNA's communications department announced the arrest of seven pro-Turkish Syrian mercenaries at the Abu Salim prison in the Tripolitan capital. 

Operations were also carried out in Ain Zara, in western Libya, which killed 13 insurgents, according to Brigadier Khaled al-Mahjoub, spokesman for the LNA, as part of the crusade carried out by Haftar's detachments against possible jihadist targets. 

Abdel Hadi al-Hawij, foreign minister of the eastern Tobruk government represented by Marshal Haftar's LNA, noted in an official speech that Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Turkey provides cover to jihadist terrorists in Libya. 

In a statement entitled 'A message to the Turkish people', Marshal Haftar's foreign representative noted that Erdogan is sparing no effort to support Fayez Sarraj's National Accord Government; this is done by sending paid foreign mercenaries, unmanned planes that bomb even civilian targets and ships carrying all kinds of weapons. 
 

Al-Hawij denounced that the Ottoman action violates all international laws by sponsoring terrorist groups for their own expansionist interests and control of the Mediterranean arc.