Turkey entrenches further into Libya as rivals strike back
Ankara is set to deepen its military intervention on the side of Libya’s Government of National Accord as it asserts dominance in the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean and drums up domestic support for the ruling party.
Turkey’s government has signaled that its military intervention on the side of Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) will deepen, part of a broader campaign to assert dominance in the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean and to bolster flagging support at home.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s communications office announced via Twitter late Sunday that Libya’s largest airbase, Al Jufra, and the coastal city of Sirte will be among its next targets. Both are controlled by the GNA’s Libyan National Army (LNA) foes led by the eastern warlord Khalifa Hifter.
It listed seven reasons both targets were strategically important, among them control over oil supply lines, the presence of Russian military aircraft and that of mercenary forces from the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group. The message was clear: Turkey will not be deterred from achieving its goals in the energy-rich country.
The tweet followed an air attack on al-Watiya airbase in western Libya, the base wrested by Turkish-backed GNA forces from Hifter in May. Its fall marked the start of the rapid collapse of Hifter’s 14-month campaign to capture Tripoli.
