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On the evening of January 29th, the Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesperson Brigadier General Ahmed al-Mesmari gave a press conference.
المؤتمر الصحفي للناطق بإسم القائد العام
المؤتمر الصحفي للناطق بإسم القائد العام
Posted by الناطق الرسمي باسم القيادة العامة للقوات المسلحة العربية الليبية on Wednesday, January 29, 2020
In the beginning al-Mesmari said that the LNA received a lot of questions regarding the “5+5 Committee” proposed at the international conference on Libya that took place on January 19th in Berlin.
The UN special representative for Libya Ghassan Salame said that 5 representatives from the UN-assigned Government of National Accord and 5 from Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s LNA would meet in Geneva in the week between January 27th and February 2nd.
Regarding the proposed 5+5 Military Commission to ensure the ceasefire, Salame said: “I have the five names from Mr Sarraj and the five names from Mr Haftar to have this joint commission meet as soon as possible so that the truce that has been called for by the two presidents [Erdogan and Putin] by the end of January becomes a full-fledged ceasefire.”
At the Berlin conference, they agreed to a three-point plan – including the economic and financial, military and political track, he said.
Al-Mesmari on his part said that there had been no information that could be shared with the public yet, either due to it being too early to share with the media, or that there is no development yet.
Regarding the closure of the oil fields and the blocking of Libyan oil exports, al-Mesmari once again said that the LNA was not the party responsible for blocking them, so he could provide no comment.
“This is the decision of the people and you should look for answers from them.”
He reiterated that the LNA controlled the majority of Libyan territory, especially after Sirte was taken from GNA forces. He said that the great support the LNA receives from the people is evidence of the legitimacy of the operations.
He said that Turkey has deployed a large number of troops and militants to Misrata.
“Our intelligence confirms the presence of a large number of militants and Turkish forces on the borders of Misrata Municipality. The Misrata militias reinforced their ranks with terrorists from Syria.”
He said that the LNA was still keeping its positions in Tripoli, and the Turkish-backed militants were trying to shell the troops, but were rather harming civilians.
“These mercenaries are trying to attack our forces on the outskirts of Tripoli, but we are responding with small operations.”
According to him the Turkish intervention has become quite obvious to the population itself, as well as to the international community, and it’s nature has also become apparent.
“Many dangerous terrorists arrive via Misrata Airport, Mitig Airport and seaports along the route Syria – Turkey – Libya.”
And he said that this is just the beginning:
“According to our intelligence, Turkey intends to transfer the coastal zone of Libya to groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda. Also, the Turks delivered to the southwest of the capital, into the desert, dangerous ISIS militants. We hope that the international community will search for these ISIS militants and will not take their eyes off them.”
He said that the GNA doesn’t represent the people, and that currently there are approximately 3,000 terrorists from Syria who were transported by Turkey to Libya.
He confirmed that Turkish navy warships escorted a cargo ship to the port of Tripoli and that the LNA was ready to fight and expel the Turkish forces at any given moment.
“Mitiga Airport has become the Turkish air base in Libya. Everything there is controlled by the Turks. No Libyan official can even sign a paper without permission from the Turks at first.
Turkey harbors Libyan terrorists recognized as such by a number of international organizations and especially wanted by them.
The Turkish President is trying to blackmail Europe with the threat of terrorism and illegal immigration.
The Turkish President seeks to divide Libya and jeopardize the security of Egypt and the entire region.”
It should be reminded that Mitiga Airport is where Turkey reportedly placed air defense systems earlier in January, as evidenced by footage.
On the side of the GNA and its propaganda campaign, together with Ankara, Turkey blamed France over the situation in Libya, following an accusation by French President Emmanuel Macron towards Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Brk/status/1222613343581745152
https://twitter.com/SkyNewsArabia_B/status/1222530196710084609
The operations on the ground seem rather low-intensity as of the evening of January 29th, with rare reports of LNA destroying GNA vehicles and nothing more intensive.
https://twitter.com/agly1988/status/1222615736797016066
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
- Turkish Warships Off The Coast of Libya, As Erdogan Vows to Counter Haftar’s Forces
- Military Situation In Libya On January 27, 2020 (Map Update)
- https://southfront.org/turkish-troops-set-up-air-defense-systems-at-mitiga-international-airport-near-tripoli-reports/
This is what happens when Haftar jumps over his own head. He got too overconfident, leaving Moscow without signing the cease-fire deal embarrassing Putin who invited everyone, cutting the oil supply to spite EU, and being stubborn refusing any peace prospect in Libya.
First NATO got a beautiful country into a mess, now Haftar is messing it even more. Interestingly all NATO countries are condemning Turkey for troops deployment crying about destabilization, as if it wasn’t them that made that mess.
Except that as a full NATO member no NATO partner will dare actually confront Turkey, Turkey knows that so Erdogan does what he wants, he knows Greece, France etc.. are just bluffing.
could egypt actually do something?
Everything LNA Spox Mesmari says is not just 100 % true, but also obvious for months. LNA, typically, completely underestimated the neo-Ottoman enemy and its’ firm strategy to re-colonize Libya. Equally LNA OVER-ESTIMATED both the ability and intent of its “allies “to actually DO something to stop the Turks. So we have a lot of fake hot-air from Greece, Egypt, UAE, Saudi, France etc.. but the situation on the ground gets worse. Turkey has been , and continues to deploy unhindered , at will, directly into Tripoli and Misrata seaports and airports more and more regular Turkish forces and weaponery (drones, armored vehicles, ex-Syria jihadis). No use declaring no-fly zones LNA if you can’t enforce them ! How ridiculous that Turkey can sail in, in broad daylight, RORO ferry and unload combat vehicles, artillery, munitions with impunity. Sorry LNA, reality is now defeat or a very long war, Sad but true, no one has shown the guts to confront the neo-Ottoman invaders (in Libya or Syria for that matter !)
Well its about benefits and costs. No country except Turkey will benefit from Turkish presence in Libya, but for no country the cost is low enough to engage against Turkey. So all they have done and are doing is just as you said emit “fake hot air”.
For Turkey the stakes are too high: Erdogan’s pride since he is already involved, influence in North Africa, Oil&Gas resources onshore and offshore, dominance in that part of the sea de facto and de jure (de jure because GNA is still internationally recognized sole representative of Libya)
Only Haftar will continue fighting against GNA and Turkey. Because as a warlord he earns money from war. But with or without supplies from Russia, Egypt and UAE, its a matter of time till stalemate or defeat. Without Turkish active involvement he couldn’t take Tripoli already twice, he won’t take it now for sure. But he will continue passive fight just to fill his pockets, as long as the suppliers are willing to continue to pay.
Any war is an opportunity. In Libya Turkey took the opportunity, in Syria Turkey Russia and Iran, in Iraq Iran and US and so on. Geopolitics.
LNA did not have to face anything , they would simply sign the peace deal. That was all they had to do. And what did Hafter do instead ? He escaped from Moscow in the middle of the night like a thief, switched his phone off and hid into his hotel room at Berlin. These are not the virtues of a leader. He is not a real field marshall ( which field war he won for gods sake ?) but only a 77 year old man who even can not see what was coming.
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Even I was telling 2 months ago that syrian militants would be transferred to Libya , because that was the only solution to keep them alive and get some part of them out of Idlib. All the LNA generals there simply could not see what ordinary commentors were telling on net.
Moreover LNA spokes man lost his reliability with simple lies, like claiming to closeTripoli air space, threatening to sink Turkish warships with an ancient boat bought from Ireland.. The same day Turkish frigates were escorting military aid ship into Tripoli , they were parading on a Turkish personel carrier captured in Sirte trying to show off.
Look from the bright side, looking at the mistakes these people have done , do they really worth running Libya ?
Agreed, LNA will not win this war with ridiculous boasts and claims – once the neo Ottoman Muslim Brotherhood invade they remain – see Cyprus (1974) all northern Syria (Afrin, n. Halab, etc..)
You are either a Russian propagandist or a Shiite who hates Sunnis. Otherwise, you are a misinformed fan of the aggressors. Let me repeat something that I have been posting on this forum for long.
TURKEY IS WRONG ABOUT SYRIA, BUT RIGHT ABOUT LIBYA. RUSSIA WILL SOON ABANDON THE LNA.
The Saudis and their criminal allies want to do to Libya what they did to Qatar. They fear that Libya’s legitimate government is sympathetic or aligned with the MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD. the prospect of a stable Libya under the current GNA government is a nightmare for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Kuwait, and even Iran. Iran hates any purely Sunni sharia government, and that is what could materialize in Libya should the GNA consolidate control. MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD seek to overthrow the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and others, that is why they are fighting the GNA in Libya despite it being the internationally recognized government. The US is in support of LNA as is Russia for now. That is why I believe Russia will soon switch sides.
Difficult for me to be a ” Shiite who hates Sunnis ” when I support the Barqa Sunni LNA, but yes as an Arab nationalist (Ba’ath) I oppose the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood whether in Libya, Egypt, Syria
Then You are clearly not a Muslim – or a Munafiq just like most of your Arab leaders have become. Makes me wonder what happened to the Arabs because they have produced some of the best worriers, empire, in history. (Khalid Ibn Walid, Ali Ibn Abi Talib, Umar Ibn Al Khattab, Salahuddin Al Ayyubi, etc).
I recall what Khalif Abubkar Al Siddeeq said and I understand the current predicament of the Arabs. The pious Khalif said, “Arabs were lowly before Allah revealed to them the Quran and Allah made them great as a result of their adherence to it. Then he said, “When Arabs stop obeying the Quran, Allah will Weaken and humiliate them just like they were weak compared to other empires in the Jahiliyya period)
Ba’athism is an evil cause. Arabs are being murdered, plundered, oppressed, and live under hard conditions more than any other race – and the situation is only getting worse (Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Palestine). these governments oppress the Arabs (Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and Egypt).
Baathists should recall the wise words of Khalif Abubakar and understand why they are doomed to fail on Earth and punished in Hell if they continue with reviving Arab unity instead of Muslim unity through adherence to the Qur’an.