Over 1,400 Syrian mercenaries sent by Turkey return from Libya
More than 1,400 paid soldiers from Syria who were fighting for Turkey in the war in Libya have returned to the Syrian country after having finished their contracts; about 1,200 of them in the last ten days.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), they have returned to Syria after their contractual relationship with the Turkish regime expired. The number of combatants who went to fight in the North African country has so far reached some 18,000 mercenaries of Syrian nationality. Among them are 350 children under 18, according to figures from the UK-based entity, which has an extensive network of informants on the ground.
The Eurasian country is intervening in the Libyan civil war on behalf of the side of the National Accord Government (GNA) following the pact sealed at the end of last year by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the GNA's prime minister, Fayez Sarraj. Thanks to this agreement, Ottoman military support was guaranteed to Sarraj's militias and exclusive economic zones of great importance for their hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean area were distributed.
The Libyan GNA, based in Tripoli and recognised by the United Nations (UN) since 2016, is fighting this war against the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Marshall Khalifa Haftar and associated with the other eastern executive in Tobruk. The course of the warfare favoured Haftar's forces following the last major offensive launched on the Tripolitan capital in April last year; but the Turkish intervention levelled the playing field, causing the armed groups of the LNA to recover ground and even threaten points such as Sirte and Jufra, considered red lines by neighbouring Egypt, which went so far as to warn its powerful armed forces if they entered these enclaves.
Libya's civil war has become internationalised and foreign powers intervene to support each faction in pursuit of their own interests. The GNA receives the aforementioned support from Turkey and the UN and that of Qatar and Italy. Meanwhile, the LNA is supported by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates (these three rivals of the Qatari state), Russia and France. In this scenario, Turkey and Russia take part by sending paid mercenaries; on the Russian side, through the Wagner Group (a private company of paid fighters that collaborates with the Kremlin); and on the Turkish side by sending paid fighters from Syria who are attached to groups allegedly linked in the past to terrorist entities such as Daesh or Al-Qaeda.
Approximately 8,500 of the pro-Turkish mercenaries returned to Syria after their contracts ended and their financial contributions were taken over. The total number of Jihadists who arrived in Libya is 10,000, of whom 2,500 are Tunisian citizens, according to the Libya Review.
Earlier this month, the SOHR reported that the Turkish government intends to reduce the salaries of the mercenaries of the Syrian pro-Ankara factions who wish to remain in Libya.
After the mercenaries received a monthly salary of about 2000 dollars, Turkey reduced the amount to 600; especially after the last ceasefire agreement reached by Fayez Sarraj's government and the parliament in Tobruk, on which the strong man of the LNA, Khalifa Haftar, who controls the eastern part of Libya, did not finally speak out. A ceasefire pact has reduced the need for these paid soldiers.
