Libya GNA refutes claims it hired Syria mercenaries 

Libya’s internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) yesterday rejected media reports claiming its army has hired Syrian mercenaries to fight against renegade Major General Khalifa Haftar in Tripoli, Anadolu reported.

A spokesman for the GNA’s “Volcano of Rage Operation”, Mustafa Al-Mujai, told the news agency that “spreading rumours about the presence of Syrian mercenaries fighting among our forces aims at covering up the scandals of the coup camp’s use of thousands of mercenaries.”

The Associated Press recently reported that Turkey had sent fighters from Syria to fight alongside the GNA army in Libya.

“Haftar is the one who brought the Syrian mercenaries…. to Benghazi and he was the one who also violated the arms embargo,” the spokesperson said.

READ: Haftar has one strategic goal, which he must achieve or die

Al-Mujai said the rumours also aim to “obtain information about the size and type of Turkish-Libyan cooperation, since the signing of the security and military memorandums of understanding between the two parties at the end of last year.”

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Volcano of Rage Operation, Abdul-Malik Al-Madani, stressed that the only ones defending Tripoli against Haftar’s offensive are the sons of the Libyan people and the city’s residents.