On Friday, the Libyan army announced that it had monitored 74 flights to transport mercenaries from Syria to the areas controlled by the coup, Khalifa Haftar, since October 2020.
This came in a series of tweets published by the media center for the “Volcano of Anger” operation on its Twitter page.
The media center said, “Since the ceasefire agreement was signed last October and until now (Friday afternoon), 74 flights by the Syrian Cham Wings air force transporting mercenaries from Syria to Haftar.”
He added that “Sham Airlines aircraft take off from the airports of Damascus and the Russian Hmeimim base in Lattakia, and land in the east of the country at Benina airport in the city of Benghazi (east) or the UAE base in Al-Khadim, south of Marj.
And “Cham Wings” is a private Syrian airline, owned by a businessman close to the Syrian regime, Mohammad Shamout. It is subject to US sanctions for transporting fighters, weapons, and equipment between Moscow and Damascus.
The media center stated, that this represents a “contradiction and violation of the (5 + 5) ceasefire agreement signed in Geneva at the end of last October.”
A week ago, the Libyan army announced the monitoring of “warplanes and helicopters in the sky of Al-Jufra (600 km southeast of Tripoli).”
Earlier Friday, the deputy head of the Libyan Presidency Council, Abdullah Al-Lafi, warned in a statement of “unilateral military actions” that would “re-fuel the conflict and obstruct the political process” in the country, on the eve of Haftar’s militia announcement, to hold a huge military parade in Benghazi, Saturday.
Although Haftar’s militia welcomes the election of the transitional authority, it continues to operate in isolation from the legitimate government, as Haftar calls himself “Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan Army,” in disregard for the army’s supreme commander, President of the Presidential Council, Muhammad al-Menfi.
For several years, with support from Arab and Western countries, mercenaries, and foreign fighters, Haftar’s militia fought the former, internationally recognized Government of National Accord.
Libyans hope that a political breakthrough between the parties will lead to an end to the conflict in the oil-rich country, after a new national unity government and presidential council took power last March to lead the country to parliamentary and presidential elections in December 24 next.
