A militia commander and three mercenaries affiliated to Turkey and the Libyan Government of National Accord have been killed in the battles taking place south of the capital Tripoli, the Libyan army confirmed. “Mohammed al-Shawesh and three other mercenaries have been killed during an unsuccessful attack against the Libyan army south of Tripoli,” the media center of al-Karama operations’ room said.”
The militias have violated the humanitarian truce, aiming at combatting the coronavirus, and conducted several successive attacks on Libyan cities and positions belonging to the Libyan army.
According to Libyan sources, eight Syrian fighters, who were fighting with forces sent by the Turkish Defense Ministry to support Fayez al-Sarraj, were killed in the past two days in the Libyan capital, controlled by the Accord Government.
The Libyan army units have recently hindered several attacks by the militias, as the infantry battalion 152 found many booby traps prepared to be detonated on the road leading to the south.
Meanwhile, air defense platforms have shot down a drone in the desert, 100 km south of the Zelten oil field, in the center of the country.
The militias continue violating the truce announced on January 12, and committing war crimes including indiscriminate bombing, and forcibly displacing civilians under the pretext of evacuating the city due to war actions.
The Libyan army complied to international calls for a ceasefire to facilitate operations against Coronavirus, although it announced that the militias controlling Tripoli violated the humanitarian truce and bombed residential neighborhoods in western Libya.
The Libyan army has achieved significant advance, as the infantry regiment belonging to battalion 127 thwarted an attack by the militias and chased their militants following a fierce battle in the axis of Ain Zara, where the army advanced to the center of Ain Zara.
It is noteworthy that the Turkish forces reduced the salaries of the Syrian mercenaries, who were recruited and dispatched from the Syrian north to fight in Libya. And this reduction came after the number of recruits exceeded the limit set by Turkey: 6000 fighters.
Several Libyan sources confirmed that the number of the Turkey-affiliated Syrian mercenaries, who have arrived in the Libyan capital so far is about 4,750, while the number of recruits, being currently trained in the Turkish training camps, is about 1,900.
Since the start of the Turkish intervention in Libya, 151 militants sent by Turkey have been killed during the battles with the Libyan National Army, including eight Syrian mercenaries, who were killed a few days ago, and were transferred to be buried in the Euphrates Shield areas in north Syria.
To achieve its military goals in Libya, Turkey dispatches Syrian mercenaries, so it won’t loose more Turkish soldiers in Libyan battlefields.
