UN: ‘UAE increased arms shipments to Haftar’

A UN diplomat reported that the UAE had increased arms shipments directed to the militias of Libya’s Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in an effort to save his military campaign against the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

The Wall Street Journal quoted a diplomat, who had access to a confidential report compiled by experts within the Libyan Security Council Committee, as saying that the UAE had violated the arms embargo and stepped up military support to Haftar in order to contain Turkish influence in the country.

The newspaper stated that the UAE Air Force sent, between January and April, about 150 shipments to Libya that carried ammunition and defence systems, according to UN experts; in addition to dozens of flights organised during the summer, using a US C-17 cargo plane. Thus, the shipping of arms continued even after the failure of Haftar’s operation in Tripoli.

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Bloody Haftar – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]