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High tension in Libya between Turkey and General Khalifa Haftar’s militia. A Turkish freighter bound for the Libyan port of Misrata was blocked on Monday by a rubber boat from forces loyal to the strongman of Cyrenaica. In retaliation, overflights of Turkish military aircraft (perhaps drones) have been reported in recent hours in the Sirte region, the area where the ceasefire line passes between Haftar’s own forces and militias loyal to the government. Tripoli, with the support of Turkey. Some Libyan news sites speak of “explosions”, but there is no confirmation of air strikes yet.
The ship stopped on Monday, also according to Western sources consulted by the Republic, had passed quite close to the coast of Cyrenaica, an area that Haftar has long declared a war zone and in which he feels empowered to control commercial traffic. The Haftar militiamen managed to force the cargo, a container ship with 17 crew members, 9 of whom were Turkish, to sail towards the port of Ras al Hilal.
Haftar spokesman Ahmed al Mismari said in the afternoon that the Jamaican-owned but Turkish-owned ship “Mebruka” had entered an area prohibited for unauthorized shipments and did not comply with the docking order. in the port of Ras al-Hilal “.
Violations that led to the intervention of Haftar’s forces, “who carried out an inspection on board, which revealed the presence of a shipment of drugs, but not weapons.” The Turkish media, on the other hand, respond with the version of the Turkish shipowners, who indicate in the cargo of the ship food and other perfectly legal shipments, all goods destined for the city of Misurata, a strong ally of the Ankara government.
Turkey responded harshly to the arrest of the ship: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “in the strongest terms the arrest of the ship: we recall once again that if Turkish interests are attacked in Libya there will be serious consequences and the perpetrators of these actions will be considered targets. legitimate “.
Turkey has signed two agreements with the Libyan government in Tripoli since November 2019. The first to delimit the maritime borders, while the second establishes forms of military cooperation between Ankara and Tripoli. And this second agreement began the major military operation by which Turkey effectively saved the government of Fayez Serraj from the assault by Haftar’s militia and its allies. After attacking Tripoli in the spring of 2019, in June 2020 the general from Cyrenaica halted the siege of the capital and withdrew his troops towards the city of Sirte, halfway along the coast between Tripoli and Benghazi.
