Egypt accuses Turkey of sending extremists to Libya

Turkey’s deployment of troops to Libya to support the Government of National Accord (GNA) violates UN Security resolutions, according to a letter submitted to the UN Security Council by Cairo’s permanent representative to the UN.

Released last week, the letter said “evidence is abundant” that Turkey is deploying “foreign terrorist fighters” to Libya in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

It noted that Turkey was recruiting fighters from the Syrian rebel groups it supports, including the Sultan Murad Division and Al-Hamza Division, offering them monthly salaries of $1,500-2,000 to go to Libya.

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It said Turkey’s intelligence agency has also been transferring Daesh fighters who were detained in northeast Syria to Libya since it launched its Operation ‘Peace Spring’ military intervention in that part of the country in October 2019.

Last December, Egypt called on the United Nations not to register the agreement that Turkey recently signed with Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA).

In an official letter to the UN’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Egyptian government described the deal as “void and non-existent,” demanding the UN not “register it.”

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