France admits ownership of missiles used by Haftar forces

The French Defence Ministry said that the Javelin anti-tank missiles obtained by Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) forces, were “supposed to be used by a French anti-terrorism unit in Libya.”

The ministry indicated in a statement, Wednesday, that “the missiles found in Libya were not supposed to be sold or transferred to any party”, adding that “the rockets were damaged and out of use.”

The missiles were found inside a central operation room of Haftar forces in Gharyan, which has been controlled by sleeper cells in the early days of retired marshal’s failed attack on Tripoli, in addition to other weapon boxes coming from the UAE, according to data printed on the containers.

Read: Algeria’s Prime Minister: ‘Haftar is nothing compared to Libya’s greatness’

Last April, the Tunisian authorities arrested 13 French nationals with diplomatic passports carrying weapons that came from Libya by land and attempted to enter to Tunisia from the Ras Jedir border crossing.

Paris announced at the time that the French armed group, which was arrested by the Tunisian security forces, is “a security team assigned to protect the French embassy in Libya due to the current security situation there.”

After the GNA’s takeover of four US Javelin missiles, which were announced to have been found at a military barrack in the city of Gharyan and seized late last month from the Libyan National Army, Washington declared that it is in the process of measuring the credibility of the news.