The Minister of the Interior of the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (PNS) of Libya, Fathi Bashag, announced the transfer of a major air connection to Libya from the Russian military base in Khmeimim in Syria. According to him, these aircraft can join the Libyan National Army (LNA) aviation, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
According to Bashag, at least six MiG-29 fighters and two Su-24 bombers flew from Syria. At the same time, the Libyan minister said that he was not sure that combat aircraft would join the forces of the LNA.
After the death in 2011 of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled the country for 40 years, a civil war broke out in Libya. Currently, the struggle is between the Government of National Accord(PNS), created on the basis of a number of Islamist organizations, including terrorist ones, and the Libyan National Army, which includes both loyalists who fought on the side of Gaddafi and secular opposition. The PNS was drawn up with the active participation of the EU in December 2015 in the Moroccan city of Shirat and is an internationally recognized force representing Libya at the interstate level. Khalifa Haftar has long been an opponent of Gaddafi and may have even collaborated with the CIA, but he is currently supported by Russia.
In January of this year, at the talks in Moscow, Haftar refused to sign a ceasefire agreement with the PNS. On May 18, PNS fighters, with the support of the Turkish military, knocked out LNA troops from the airbase near Tripoli. This defeat turned out to be extremely unpleasant for the forces of Haftar, who has been attacking the former capital since last spring.
