Libyan website: UAE sent 16 armoured vehicles to back Haftar troops

The UAE sent 16 armoured vehicles to the city of Tobruk, Libya, to support renegade General Khalifa Haftar’s troops, the Ean Libya news site claimed yesterday.

Voice of Libya news site, which is close to Haftar’s forces, confirmed the news, reporting a source who works as part of Haftar’s Operation Dignity as saying that 16 Hurricane armoured vehicles arrived in the city of Tobruk on Saturday to join in the defence of the oil crescent region. The source, who asked not to be named, said: “The military had contracted to buy the armoured vehicles at an earlier time.”

Supported by the government in Tripoli, the Libya Dawn Islamist militia continue their assault on the country’s richest oil region battling Haftar forces and air forces loyal to him as well as the government’s oil facilities’ guards.

The Libya Dawn militia refers to its operation to capture the oil rich region as Operation Sunrise.

The oil crescent area includes several cities between Benghazi and Sirte, 500 kilometres east of the capital, and contains the largest oil reserves as well as the ports of Sidra, Ras Lanuf and Brega.