The Turkish parliament will be called to vote on a motion supporting sending troops and naval forces to Lybia in January. In the meantime, though, there are reports saying that the Turkish state has already deployed over 300 'Syrian fighters' to Libya.
The Turkish parliament will be called to vote on a motion supporting sending troops and naval forces to Lybia in January to defend the country's internationally recognised government against eastern commander Khalifa Haftar.
The imminent deployment of Turkish and possibly Syrian rebel forces to Libya will only further deepen a complex proxy war.
Yet, despite the intense reaction of the countries of the region, the Turkish state took another step and sent its mercenaries to Libya.
A Libyan official told Bloomberg that ethnic Turkmen Syrian rebel groups that have fought alongside Turkey in northern Syria are expected to reinforce the government in Tripoli imminently.
Another remarkable development last week was the surprise visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Tunisia. During the meeting, on 25 December, the Libyan crisis was claimed to be on the agenda.
The Tunisian Presidency rejected this claim and argued that Libya was not on the agenda. However, many sources point out that the Turkish regime wants to include Tunisia in the Libyan crisis.
On Thursday Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Turkey would send troops to Libya at the GNA’s request.
"Since there is an invitation [from Libya] right now, we will accept it," Erdogan told members of his AK Party in a speech. "We will put the bill on sending troops to Libya on the agenda as soon as parliament opens."
The legislation would pass in the second week of January, he said, opening the door to deployment.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) obtained new information about Turkish operations of transporting fighters from Syria to Libya.
Citing very reliable sources, SOHR said on Sunday that the number of fighters who arrived in the Libyan capital Tripoli, has reached 300. Meanwhile, the number of conscripts who arrived in Turkish camps in order to receive training courses ranges between 900 to 1000, SOHR noted.
“Turkey offers salaries ranging between 2000 and 2500 USD for every single fighter over a three-months contract or a six-months contract, in return for heading to Tripoli. The longer the duration of contract, the more salary get the fighters. A number of fighters who have been sent to Libya are former members of the “Hazm Movement” which was disbanded years ago and whose members then joined Suleiman Shah, Sultan Murad and other factions located within Turkish-held areas in Syria” the sources added.
