Libya’s east-based army claims its troops killed at least seven Islamic State militants, including foreign fighters, in a raid on their hideout in the country’s south, like reported by smh.com.au.

The statement from the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces said a six-hour firefight with the militants took place in a neighbourhood of the city of Sabha, 650 kilometres south of the capital, Tripoli into the early hours of Tuesday.

The force, led by commander Khalifa Hifter, said the dead included three militants from Saudi Arabia, an Australian, an Egyptian and two Libyans. Hifter’s troops shared graphic photos of the dead, along with their alleged passports to show their identities.

Australian government sources said the person killed was a former resident.

The troops also detained two women, a Libyan and an Egyptian, in the raid. A pro-Hifter news website, al-Marsad, reported three of Hifter’s forces were also killed.

Libya is divided between two rival administrations, based in the country’s east and west, with an array of fighters and militias, backed by various foreign powers allied with each side.

In the years after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi, IS and other extremists had managed to gain a foothold in the country, benefiting from Libya’s remote stretches near the borders with Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Algeria, Niger and Tunisia.

Hifter, who was instrumental in pushing back IS and who is aligned with the east-based administration, attempted a power grab last year, with a military offensive launched in April 2019 aimed at capturing Tripoli.

But the west-based Libyan forces and militias allied with the UN-supported government in Tripoli defeated that offensive with Turkey’s military help and Hifter’s campaign collapsed in June.

Fighting has died down in recent weeks amid intensive international efforts, including from the United States, to establish a lasting ceasefire and avert a showdown between the rival sides over the strategic city of Sirte, the gateway for vital oil facilities.

Libya’s Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj plans to announce his resignation soon but will stay on in a caretaker capacity through negotiations for a new government in Geneva next month, according to officials familiar with his thinking, like reported by bloomberg.com.

With Turkey’s help, the internationally recognized premier, whose government controls only parts of western Libya, in June quashed a yearlong offensive on the capital by eastern commander Khalifa Haftar. But Tripoli has since descended into political infighting, and Sarraj has also faced pressure from a protest movement against corruption and poor services.

By announcing his resignation, he would relieve some of the pressure on himself while setting the stage for his exit after the Geneva talks, two officials said on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations. The rival sides will be asked to agree on a new presidential council structure that unifies the country’s dueling administrations and schedule elections.

The move is expected to be welcomed by Haftar’s regional backers, including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, while facilitating the talks to unite the conflict-riven North African nation that sits atop the continent’s largest oil reserves.

Haftar himself has increasingly given way politically to Aguileh Salah, the head of parliament who’s proposed a political initiative to unify the country’s institutions and is now leading political talks for the eastern camp, Arab and Western diplomats said.

Four officials said Sarraj and his aides have discussed his plans with Libyan and international partners. He’s expected to make his announcement by the end of the week, two officials said. A spokesman for Sarraj declined to comment on the prime minister’s plans.

The country has been divided since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 ousted dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi. The latest war, which started in April 2019 with Haftar’s march on Tripoli, drew in military intervention by Turkey, the UAE and Russian mercenaries. Both sides agreed to a cease-fire last month.

Turkey has recruited Syrian mercenaries and sent 5,000 of them to fight in Libya under dubious circumstances that may violate an embargo on the country that was designed to reduce the civil war. Undisciplined mercenaries may harm the security situation and they are accused of theft, sexual assault, and links to terrorist extremism. The recent findings in a US Lead Inspector General report covering Africa illustrate how Ankara has added fuel to the fire in Libya and sent poverty-stricken Syrians, many of them having already lost their homes in a civil war in Syria, to fight and die for Ankara’s energy interests in north Africa, like reported by jp.com..

According to the arms embargo on Libya it is prohibited to export, sell, supply or transfer military goods and technology to Libya. The UN has complained about “blatant” violations of the embargo. Turkey is a member of NATO and it is not usual for NATO members to recruit mercenaries from refugee populations to fight in foreign wars. However, Ankara’s increasingly militaristic regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been hosting Hamas and pushing an agenda that has seen Turkey threaten Greece, France, Israel, Iraq, Syria, the United States and other countries. In November, after having invaded northern Syria and forced the US to withdraw from areas in eastern Syria, Turkey signed a deal with the Tripoli-based Government of the National Accord in Libya to demarcate water and energy rights in the Mediterranean.

Over the last six months reports about the thousands of Syrians shipped to Libya have appeared in major media. The Syrians were sent to help bolster the GNA’s fight against the Egyptian backed general Khalifa Haftar who is based in Benghazi. Egypt, Greece, the UAE, Russia, and France appear to back Haftar. Libya is now part of a proxy war. In recent months Egypt and Greece signed a deal over water rights, the UAE sent F-16s to Crete, Turkish F-16s harassed Greek F-16s, Turkey sent a naval flotilla to harass Greece, the French and Greeks and Egypt held naval drills, Israel backed Greece against Turkey, Turkey threatened to “liberate Al Aqsa” from Israel, the US ended an arms embargo on Cyprus, France signed a defense agreement with Cyprus, and Israel, Greece and Cyprus signed a pipeline deal for the eastern Mediterranean. In short: Turkey’s involvement in Libya and its shipment off mercenaries helped set in motion a series of escalations over the last six months.

US African Command and the report is supposed to be presented to Congress quarterly. This one deals with East Africa counterterrorism operations and also North and West Africa counterterrorism. Groups like Al-Shabab, Boko Haram, al Qaeda and others are preying on Africa and caused widespread terror across the Sahel. The US has used secret, and non-so-secret, drone and military bases from Djibouti to Niger to kill terrorists. However ISIS recently took over a port in Mozambique and France’s operations in the Sahel are hampered by a coup in Mali. Hard times lie ahead to fight terror in Africa. Turkey’s export of Syrian rebels, some of them religious extremists and others linked to war crimes against Kurds and minorities, does not bode well.

The US report confirms what is largely know, which is that Turkish military aircraft are likely flying in the “Syrian mercenaries.” In addition US AFRICOM assess that “several dozen military trainers from a private military company, Sadat, were deployed to Tripoli to train both the GNA-affiliated militias and Syrian fighters.” The US says that the fighters number around 5,000 and that they are paid. Other reports have suggested that small payments are often late.

“In addition to Turkish-Supported Syrian Opposition mercenaries, Turkey has also deployed several hundred regular military forces to Libya. These individuals included trainers, advisors, ordnance disposal personnel—a large number of IEDs have been found in southern Tripoli—and operators and maintainers of Turkish air defense systems,” the US says. Turkey’s air defense helped turn the tide against Haftar in April. But then Egypt’s government drew a red line near Sirte and warned Turkey against more advanced. In July a mysterious airstrike by unknown planes hit Turkish positions near the key military base at Watiya which Ankara had helped the GNA re-take. Since then Ankara has gotten the message the Libya may not be an easy walk in the park the way its invasion and alleged ethnic-cleansing of the Kurdish region of Afrin in Syria was when Turkey invaded in January 2018.

The new US report covers the period April to June but was released only in late August. The US says that the presence of the Syrian mercenaries “will continue to negatively affect the overall security situation in Libya. USAFRICOM described the Syrian mercenaries fighting in Libya as ‘inexperienced, uneducated, and motivated by promises of considerable salary.’” This sounds like the same rabble that Ankara has deployed in Al-Bab, Afrin, Idlib and Tel Abyad where pro-Ankara groups are accused of kidnapping women, rape, holding women in secret prisons, smuggling ISIS members, and destroying the graves of minority Yazidis, as well as targeted killings of activists such as Hevrin Khalaf and others. “USAFRICOM added that there were increasing reports of theft, sexual assault, and misconduct by those mercenaries, which is likely to further degrade the security situation and generate backlash from the Libyan public. USAFRICOM said that extremists with previous terrorist links were involved in the Tripoli fighting, although it is possible they were fighting for financial and personal reasons rather than ideological reasons.”

The report reads eerily similar to reports about the depravity and abuses done by similar Ankara-backed extremists during attacks on Afrin in 2018 and Tel Abyad in 2019 when there was widespread looting of property. In June videos emerged of women who had been able to flee a secret prison run by Turkish-backed gangs and extremists. Many Kurdish and minority families have said that Syrian rebel extremists backed by Ankara have kidnapped women, stolen property and committed widespread abuses. Reports to the UN and human rights groups have had the same allegations. It now appears that Ankara has exported these abuses to Libya under the guise of helping the GNA, but primarily so Ankara can use the mercenary support as leverage for energy deals and conflict with Greece and Egypt

France is deploying the flagship of its Navy, the nuclear-powered surface vessel, aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The deployment comes in the wake of Turkey’s war threats.

Citing sources of the French General Staff, French media report that the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is expected to arrive in the area soon.

The aircraft carrier is coming to the area with a full military load.

The Charles de Gaulle will be accompanied by an unknown number of ships and submarines of the French Navy.

According to the French sources, the Charles de Gaulle has departed from the port of Toulon with the aircraft carrier described as being “battle ready”.

The Charles de Gaulle is in “unspecified mission” report French media like lemarin.ouest-france.fr, so Greek state broadcaster ERT.

The aircraft carrier’s combat load reportedly includes a number of Rafale fighter jets, maximum-range missiles, anti-submarine arsenal, as well as advanced electronic tracking, targeting and electronic interception systems.

French Defense Minister Florance Parly confirmed that the deployment is due early September.

The deployment of the French navy in the Eastern Mediterranean follows recent statements by French President Emmanuel Macron that “Turkey understands only actions.”

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan directly threatened Greece and France on Monday, saying that hey will pay a heavy price.”

“Those who think they drew a red line in the Eastern Mediterranean are challenging our country’s resolute stance,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Friday, Macron said he had adopted a “red-line policy” in the region backing Greece against Turkey over the exploration of energy resources, wrote Turkish media.

In recent years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has emerged as a leading producer of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms for both commercial and military use, and its technologies are being used in unprecedented ways, like reported by jamestown.org. For example, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold in the early months of this year (China Brief, January 17; China Brief, January 29), UAVs started to appear in the skies across China.

Public officials employed these UAVs to monitor the population, and to enforce restrictions (such as mandatory wearing of masks) intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 (Global Times, January 31). UAVs have also been used to monitor water levels and property damage amid the severe flooding that China has experienced this summer (China Brief, July 29; CGTN, August 15). Such innovative—if sometimes controversial—practices reflect China’s growing capabilities in the field of UAV technology.

Beyond its domestic employment of commercial UAVs, the PRC has also made rapid progress in the development and sale of military UAVs, which are increasingly prevalent in contemporary conflicts. China’s growth in this field reflects comments made by President Xi Jinping in 2016, when he emphasized that UAVs are a critical element of combat on the modern battlefield (PRC Defense Ministry, March 14, 2016). Chinese UAVs, such as the CH-5 Rainbow (彩虹-5, Cai Hong-5), reportedly operate at relatively low altitudes with more modest payloads than comparable U.S. systems. Newer UAVs in development, such as the forthcoming Wind Shadow (风影, Feng Ying), aim to expand the capabilities of China’s indigenous systems (Janes, August 4).

Chinese military UAVs have spread across the world: as of March 2019, the PRC had already become the world’s leading exporter of combat UAVs (SIPRI, August 21; South China Morning Post, March 12, 2019). This has included capturing markets in which the United States might have previously enjoyed near-exclusive access; as well as arming countries and factions to which the United States has denied sales of UAVs. At an arms conference in 2018, China’s customer list for the CH-5 included Algeria, Nigeria, Jordan, Zambia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Myanmar (Foreign Policy, May 10, 2018). More recently, in July 2020 the PRC sold six CH92-A UAVs to Serbia, a NATO ally and the first European country to deploy Chinese military drones (Bloomberg, August 4). Furthermore, outside the list of China’s direct customers are those who receive Chinese UAVs through intermediary purchasers—as one side in the Libyan civil war has done through the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The State of Libya’s Civil War—and the Role of Chinese UAV Systems

The ongoing conflict in Libya presents an opportunity to review the operational and strategic impact of Chinese UAVs in contemporary conflict. Two landmark events have shaped recent history and ultimately led to Libya’s current predicament: the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and the subsequent failure of the Libyan Political Agreement since 2015 (UNSMIL, December 17, 2015). In the resulting power vacuum, the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) has sparred with the Benghazi-based Libyan National Army (LNA) for control of the country and its resources. Recognized by the United Nations and the United States, the GNA also receives support from Turkey, Italy, and Qatar; supported by the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) and led by General Khalifa Haftar, the LNA has backing from Egypt, France, Russia, and the UAE. Further complicating the conflict in Libya, local allegiances are more fragmented than these two efforts might indicate, with a smattering of militias aligning more locally and temporarily as dynamics shift (Jamestown Foundation, August 14).

The conflict in Libya has evolved to feature the use of UAVs on both sides of the battlefield. Between April 2018 and November 2019, more than 1000 strikes from UAVs took place in Libya—with over 800 conducted on behalf of the LNA, and over 240 on behalf of the GNA (United Nations, November 18, 2019). Turkey has provided the GNA with its Bayraktar TB2 system, while the UAE has provided the LNA with the Chinese-made Wing Loong II system (SCMP, September 29, 2019). Compared to the Bayraktar TB2, the Wing Loong II has advantages in cruising altitude, range, payload, and speed (Turkey Defence Industries, 2017; Army Recognition, April 14). Given its smaller size, range, and payload, the Bayraktar TB2 offers the GNA a limited UAV mission set, such as harassing supply lines; the LNA, however, can use the Wing Long II for a much more robust range of missions. Questions remain whether GNA or LNA personnel operate the UAVs themselves, or if foreign personnel accompany the equipment to operate from the ground. It is worth noting that these provisions of equipment and personnel violate the terms of a U.N. arms embargo, which has stood since Gaddafi’s downfall in 2011 (UN Security Council Report, November 29, 2019).

The impact of UAVs on the political and security situation in Libya cannot be overstated. Most significantly, the proliferation of UAVs contributes to prolongation of the conflict. As observed by Chinese military analysts, UAVs provide low-cost, high-impact means to reduce casualties and generate effects, all while leaving the fighting will of the attacker intact (PRC Defense Ministry, July 17). Foreign interference has remained one of the main drivers of conflict in Libya, as external actors seek to gain influence and secure access to Libya’s energy resources (United Nations, July 8). By arming both sides of the conflict with modern UAV capabilities, foreign powers perpetuate conflict and reduce friction that would otherwise serve to dampen violence and leave space for reconciliation.

The Geopolitical Implications of China’s Military UAV Sales

The lack of transparency surrounding the PRC’s involvement in Libya creates obstacles in establishing the connections between Chinese actions and their outcomes. In its public statements, the Chinese government continues to push for a ceasefire and a political solution to the Libyan conflict (PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 8). A review of Chinese interests in Libya, however, may shed further light on how Beijing sees the situation in Libya, as well as how it views military arms sales more broadly.

First, whereas the PRC has exported a diverse range of products and services to Libya since reestablishing diplomatic relations in late 2000—reaching a peak volume of nearly $3 billion in 2013—Libyan exports to China have consisted exclusively of energy resources, surpassing $5 billion in 2012 (PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, November 7, 2000). The civil war underway in Libya appears to have disrupted Chinese-Libyan trade significantly since these high marks of nearly a decade ago. However, energy exports from Libya to China rebounded to nearly $4 billion in 2018 (Atlas of Economic Complexity, August 21). Also, Libya was approved to become a member of the China-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in December 2018 (PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 2020). If the weapons provided to the LNA— including the Wing Loong II—prove decisive, Beijing could stand to benefit from Haftar’s consolidated and stabilized control of the country’s eastern and central oil fields.

Second, the cast of other foreign powers supporting Haftar’s LNA allows Beijing an opportunity to deepen its alignment with the UAE, Egypt, and Russia. In 2018, the PRC and the UAE upgraded their bilateral relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership.” According to China’s Ambassador to the UAE Ni Jian, “The UAE is China’s seventh-largest trading partner, and China has continued to maintain its position as the UAE’s largest trading partner” (China Daily, December 2, 2019; The National, July 18). The PRC has supported Egypt’s actions in Libya, recently praising the role that the latter has played in supporting regional peace and stability (PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 24). Although Russia initially held off on revealing its precise alignment in Libya, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov made clear after the U.S. presidential election in 2016 that Haftar’s LNA had Russian support (Bloomberg, December 26, 2016). By indirectly supporting the LNA, Beijing is able to support its partners and potentially build leverage in those relationships.

Third, military sales allow the PRC to test and refine its military hardware on contemporary battlefields without direct political risk. China’s civil-military fusion campaign has emphasized the importance of its domestic defense industry, particularly in terms of how it might contribute to both economic vitality and success on the battlefield (China Brief, October 8, 2019; U.S. Department of State, May 2020). In contrast to the United States, which has been engaged in wars of its own for decades, the Chinese military has not had as many opportunities to gain combat experience; in this context, the PRC has become a leading contributor of troops to United Nations peacekeeping operations, and Chinese military sales have steadily risen—including becoming the largest exporter of combat UAVs in 2014-2018 (United Nations, June 30; SIPRI, March 2019). Particularly given the strategic significance that the PRC assigns to its UAV programs, improvements gleaned through vicarious battlefield experience are invaluable. Although the PRC has not provided UAVs directly to the factions engaged in the conflict in Libya, the employment of Chinese systems by third parties offers the benefit of battle-testing equipment without the risk of military or diplomatic repercussions.

Conclusion

The PRC is leveraging its UAV production to erode the United States’ position as the partner of choice in the arena of international security. One military analyst has assessed that Chinese drones may possess advantages over those of the United States in terms of cost and transaction processing time—as well as providing potential further advantages in the lack of attribution or accountability (Defense News, May 2, 2019). In regions where U.S. military engagement efforts are not as robust or focused, the PRC is well-positioned to serve as an alternate vendor for UAVs. When coupled with a diminishing appetite in the United States for international engagement, this dynamic could create further opportunities for China to compete for the coveted status of security partner of choice that the United States has long enjoyed in many parts of the world.

Egypt’s army announced Sunday that more than 70 alleged jihadists have been killed in recent military operations in North Sinai, the location of an insurrection affiliated to the Islamic State group, like reported by toi.com.

A statement by the Egyptian army said that the operations had targeted alleged “homes of terrorists” and “takfiri elements” leading to “the deaths of 73 takfiris in northern Sinai” between July 22 and August 30.

Four other “takfiris” were killed, the statement added, without elaborating.

The term “takfiri” is used by Egyptian security officials to refer to jihadists.

During the clashes “three officers and four soldiers were killed or wounded,” the statement said, without providing further details.

In February 2018, security forces launched a nationwide operation against militants, focused on North Sinai.

More than 930 suspected militants have been killed in the region along with dozens of security personnel, according to official figures.

No independently verified death toll is available and the region is largely cut off to journalists.

However, the Egyptian government has organised occasional media visits, closely supervised by the military.

The UN Security Council is voting on a resolution that would extend the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon for a year but reduce its troop ceiling from 15,000 to 13,000 in response to US pressure, like reported by toi.com.

The French-drafted resolution also makes another concession to the Trump administration and its close ally Israel. It calls on the Lebanese government to facilitate “prompt and full access” to sites requested by UN peacekeepers for investigation, including Hezbollah tunnels crossing the UN-drawn Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel.

The draft urges freedom of movement for UNIFIL and unimpeded access to all parts of the Blue Line, and condemns “in the strongest terms” all attempts to restrict UN troop movements and attacks on mission personnel.

The resolution, if approved, would give the United States a symbolic victory, but it would also almost certainly be welcomed by many countries that view UNIFIL as critical to maintaining peace in the volatile region and strongly support its current mandate which is largely maintained.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote to the council on July 29 recommending a 12-month renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate, stressing the importance of maintaining high troop strength.

While the resolution’s adoption would reduce the troop ceiling from 15,000 to 13,000, it would not require any cuts in the current peacekeeping force. That’s because UNIFIL’s current strength is about 10,250 troops, well below the ceiling.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 15 members of the council are voting on the resolution by email. Voting began Thursday afternoon and ends Friday afternoon. The Security Council president, Indonesia’s UN Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani, said results will be announced Friday evening.

The vote began a day after Israel’s envoy to the United Nations Gilad Erdan told the international body that a shooting attack carried out earlier in the week by a Hezbollah cell toward IDF troops, took place between two UN posts, barely 110 yards from the closer one.

UNIFIL said it was launching an investigation into the incident.

UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after a 1978 invasion. The mission was expanded after a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah so that peacekeepers could deploy along the Lebanon-Israel border to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into their country’s south for the first time in decades.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah, which is backed by its greatest foe Iran, of impeding the peacekeepers from carrying out their mandate, a view strongly backed by the Trump administration.

In 2019, Israel destroyed a series of what it said were attack tunnels, dug under the border by Hezbollah. The terror group battled Israel to a stalemate in a month-long war in 2006.

Israel’s then-ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said in May that Israel would insist that peacekeepers have access to all sites, that they have freedom of movement and that any time they are being blocked the Security Council must be immediately informed.

US Ambassador Kelly Craft tweeted at the time that UNIFIL has been “prevented from fulfilling its mandate” and “Hezbollah has been able to arm itself and expand operations, putting the Lebanese people at risk.”

She said the Security Council “must either pursue serious change to empower UNIFIL or realign its staffing and resources with tasks it can actually accomplish.”

The resolution being voted on recognizes “that UNIFIL has successfully implemented its mandate since 2006 and has allowed for maintaining peace and security since then,” and therefore the Security Council would authorize the reduction of the troop ceiling from 15,000 to 13,000.

The draft resolution states that the force strength can be increased in the future in the event of “a degraded security situation.”

According to UNIFIL, it currently has about 10,250 troops including more than 9,400 ground troops and over 850 naval personnel assigned to its Maritime Task Force. In addition, the mission has about 900 civilian staff, both international and national.

The draft resolution would affirm the Security Council’s “strong continuing commitment to the existing UNIFIL mandate.” And it would reaffirm the necessity that Lebanon’s armed forces deploy in southern Lebanon and its territorial water “at an accelerated pace” to implement a key mandate provision.

The draft asks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to present the first elements of a plan to improve UNIFIL’s “efficiency and effectiveness” within 60 days.

On another US and Israeli issue, the resolution would reiterate the council’s call for “the rapid finalization” of investigations into all attacks against UNIFIL in order to bring the perpetrators to justice. And it would request the secretary-general “to report to the Council, within a reasonable time frame, when such incidents occur.”

Israeli warplanes bombed a Hamas weapons factory in the Gaza Strip Friday morning, in retaliation for rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, like reported by inn.com.

An IDF spokesperson confirmed Friday that the Israeli Air Force bombed a site used by Hamas for assembling weapons, saying the strike was in response to rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.

Six rockets were launched from Gaza towards Israel just after 5:00 a.m. Friday morning.

Authorities say all six rockets landed in open areas. No injuries or damage were reported.

The rocket fire came after IDF aircraft and tanks hit Hamas underground infrastructure and a Hamas post in the Gaza Strip.

The attack was carried out in response to the continued firing of incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli territory.

“The IDF conducts an ongoing assessment of the situation and acts firmly and decisively against any attempt at terrorist activity against the citizens of the State of Israel and the violation of its sovereignty,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

On Thursday, at least 30 fires broke out in communities located near the Gaza border as a result of the incendiary balloon terrorism.

The NATO member state Turkey is blocking a decision by the military alliance to support the EU Sea-Guardian mission. This is not by chance, because the EU mission is supposed to control the UN arms embargo against Libya.

However, Turkey is one of the largest military supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Tripoli. It has sent tens of thousands of mercenaries, jihadists and its own soldiers into the country and continues to flood it with state-of-the-art war technology.

The Sea-Guardian mission can only stand by and watch, because any control of the weapons transports protected by the Turkish navy is met with the threat of military force. For instance, a French frigate was detected by the fire control radar of a Turkish warship when it attempted to control a ship presumably loaded with weapons and mercenaries.

The Sea-Guardian mission is more of a paper tiger than a real restriction on arms shipments to Libya. This mission is wanted to be further weakened by Turkey’s refusal to provide NATO support. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had said on Wednesday at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Berlin that there was no news on the subject. However, he said that they wanted to see how they could possibly cooperate with the EU operation.

The Muslim Brotherhood regime in Tripoli is one of the closest allies of the Erdoğan government. Among other things, Turkey attributes its claims to natural gas deposits in Greek territory in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean to an agreement with the head of the regime, al-Sarraj. Libya represents an important anchor point for Turkey’s imperial ambitions.

Egypt’s parliament has approved the deployment of troops outside the country to protect “national security”, days after politicians allied to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar urged Cairo to intervene militarily in the country’s war, like reported by middleeasteye.net.

Egypt’s House of Representatives, packed with supporters of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, approved the plan after a closed-door session on Monday.

The parliament unanimously approved “the deployment of the Egyptian armed forces on combat missions outside Egypt’s borders to defend Egyptian national security… against criminal armed militias and foreign terrorist elements”, it said in a statement.

The deployment would be made on a “western front”, the statement said – a likely reference to western neighbour Libya.

Since 2014, Libya has been split between areas controlled by the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) and territory held by forces loyal to Haftar.

Turkey, along with regional ally Qatar, has backed the GNA, while Russian mercenaries, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have supported Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA).

Both sides in Libya’s civil war have been mobilising for weeks for a battle over Sirte. In January, Haftar’s forces took control of the coastal city, the birthplace of former leader Muammar Gaddafi and once a stronghold of the Islamic State group.

The GNA has halted its advance outside the city, a strategic access point to Libya’s key oil fields, which remain under Haftar’s control.

Before the vote, the Egyptian presidency said Sisi had agreed with US President Donald Trump to maintain a ceasefire in Libya and avoid any escalation.

The US has sent mixed signals to the rival sides over the course of the war, but has become increasingly concerned about Moscow’s growing influence in Libya, where hundreds of Russian mercenaries back Hafter’s forces.

Last week, the US military’s Africa Command (Africom) accused the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organisation, of “indiscriminately” placing “booby traps and minefields” in or around Tripoli, further violating the United Nations’ arms embargo on Libya.

Earlier on Monday, Turkey demanded an “immediate” end to international support for Haftar after trilateral talks were held in Ankara between Libyan, Turkish and Maltese officials.

“It is essential that all kind of help and support given to putschist Haftar – which prohibits ensuring Libya’s peace, tranquillity, security and territorial integrity – ends immediately,” Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said.

Haftar’s backers should “stop supporting an unrealistic and wrong project”, the GNA’s Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha said.

Also on Monday, the UN called on the warring sides to immediately engage in a ceasefire, with Stephanie Williams, the acting head of the UN support mission in Libya, demanding “an end to the blatant violations of the UN arms embargo”.