Militia Leaders in Libya: Turkey Bringing Extremists to Fight Insurgency

The Associated Press reports that according to “two Libyan militia leaders and a Syrian war monitor,” Turkey is welcoming Syrian extremists who were fighting against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and airlifting them to Libya to help battle an insurgency. The militia leaders say, according to the report, that “Turkey has brought more than 4,000 foreign fighters into Tripoli, and that ‘dozens’ of them are extremist-affiliated.” The news agency identifies the militia leaders only as being “in Tripoli.” This indicates that they are on the side of the Tripoli-based, UN-backed Government of National Accord, which Ankara is backing in its fight against the Benghazi-based Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar, a renegade general. The LNA has been making major gains in a ground and air offensive. Turkey agreed to send troops to Libya in December, and the militia leaders appear to confirm press reports saying that at least some of them are rebels who fled an ongoing Syrian-government offensive in Idlib Province. The AP report quotes one of the militia leaders as expressing concern that the extremists “will ‘tarnish’ the image of the Tripoli-based government.”