On Friday, Khalifa Haftar claimed that a national war was fuelled in his country by Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, who he called a “deranged Turkish sultan”.
Haftar announced that “The enemy declared war, advertised aggression and decided to invade our nation”.
He added that his forces accepted the challenge of Turkish military intervention in Libya’s conflict.
Global oil prices jumped four per cent today after a US airstrike killed several Iranian military leaders including Qassem Soleimani, who was the head of Iran’s Quds Force.
While Brent Crude Oil surged 4.4 per cent to $69.16, WTI jumped 4.3 per cent to 63.84. It could rise further during the day as a fallout of the airstrike.
Experts believe that oil prices could rise further as US forces killed the Iranian general and seven other military leaders in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport.
Turkey’s bill allowing troop deployment in Libya marks a dangerous escalation in the North African country’s civil war and severely threatens stability in the region, a joint statement by Greece, Israel and Cyprus said late on Thursday.
“This decision constitutes a huge violation of the UNSC resolution, imposing an arms embargo in Libya and seriously undermines the international community’s efforts to find a peaceful political solution to the Libyan conflict,” as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said in the statement.
In a statement issued today on the Airport’s Facebook page, flights are suspended until further notice at the only functioning airport in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, due to rockets falling nearby.
The closure of Mitiga Airport comes a day after Turkey’s parliament voted to allow a troop deployment to Libya, deepening fears of an escalation of fighting in the North African country.
Mitiga Airport was repeatedly closed and reopened in recent years because of risks from shelling and air strikes.
U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the situation in Libya with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call on Thursday, Turkey’s presidency said less than an hour after Ankara passed a bill allowing troop deployment to Tripoli.
Trump and Erdogan “stressed the importance of diplomacy in resolving regional issues,” the Turkish presidency said.
Egypt strongly condemned on Thursday Turkish parliament’s vote to allow a troop deployment to Libya, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Egypt said any such deployment could “negatively affect the stability of the Mediterranean region” and called on the international community to urgently respond to the move.
Turkey’s parliament on Thursday passed a bill that allows troop deployment to Libya, Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop said, paving the way for increased military cooperation despite criticism from opposition lawmakers.
Sentop said the legislation passed with an 325-184 vote in the parliament, where President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party and its nationalist allies hold a majority. All major opposition parties in the assembly voted against the bill.
National Peace Initiative member Mabruka Al Masmary denied losing contact with some young people participating in the National Peace Initiative to stop the war in Libya.
Al Masmary reported that all participants in this initiative are in good health and were not subjected to harassment by the security services.
The initiative included six points, the first of which was the rejection of all forms of weapons outside the authority of the State, confirming that the constitutional and electoral processes are the real choices of the Libyan people.
The Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Assosiation (MUSIAD) announced Ankara’s intention to raise its exports to Libya by more than 571 percent, to $10 billion, compared to about $1.49 billion in 2018.
The association’s representative in Tripoli Murtada Koronfol expected that the value of the Turkish exports to Libya would rise by 50 percent to reach $3 billion in 2020.
In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Koronfol claimed that “Maritime Safety Agreement” will contribute to the strengthening of trade and economic relations between the two countries during the next phase, thanks to a positive reflection of the power of their political relations in the economic sphere”
The same source stated that Turkey’s exports to Libya included clothing and furniture, foodstuffs, car spare parts, construction supplies and other sectors.
Turkish lawmakers are set to back a bill on Thursday that allows troop deployment in Tripoli, but that is likely to begin with military support, training and drones in the air rather than boots on the ground.
Erdogan’s ruling AK Party and its nationalist allies are expected to back the legislation on Thursday despite opposition from the other major parties that say military support would cause Libya’s conflict to spread across the region and endanger Turkey’s safety.