US: Russia sending fighter jets to Libya
The US has accused Russia of having sent fighter jets to support mercenary troops backing General Haftar in the Libyan civil war. It claims recent pictures of an air base prove that the Russian planes are in the country. Moscow has refuted the allegations as false news. Commentators point out that not only Russia is meddling in this war.
Ankara is not innocent either
In HuffPost Greece, political scientist Maria Motika discusses the role of Turkey and its support for Libyan interim Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj:
“Both the LNA [Libyan National Army under General Haftar] and the World Health Organization have accused the government troops of having destroyed several convoys of food and medical aid that were destined for besieged cities. Despite the Berlin Agreement, which calls on third countries not to strengthen the warring parties by supplying them with soldiers and military materials, Ankara continues to provide al-Sarraj with concrete aid on both levels. Indeed, he recently called on Syrian rebel groups and terrorist organisations to submit lists of new fighters to be sent to Libya. Turkish involvement has led to the mobilisation of other Arab states such as Qatar.”
Country will not come to rest
The comprehensive "proxy war" about which the UN Security Council has warned has been under way for a long time, the Süddeutsche Zeitung points out:
“If foreign powers did not support the warring parties with money, increasingly modern weapon systems and mercenaries, the conflict could perhaps be resolved. However Libya is the battlefield on which the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Russia on the one hand, and Turkey and Qatar on the other, are struggling for regional supremacy and geopolitical influence - one where they can carry out their ideological conflict over political Islam unchecked. And as long as that remains the case, Libya will not come to rest.”