Libya: barely established, the truce of the “coronavirus” immediately broken

Text by: RFI Follow

Accepted on Saturday March 21 by the two sides who are fighting in Libya, the so-called "coronavirus" truce was quickly broken. The United Nations and several countries had called for this humanitarian truce in order to unite all efforts to fight against the coronavirus.

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If the two rival parties accuse each other once again of having broken the truce, the Libyan National Army (ANL) of Khalifa Haftar also points the finger at the Turkish combatants who are supporting the forces of Tripoli.

In a video recording broadcast to the media, Al-Mabrouk Al-Ghazoui, major-general and commander of ANL operations in the western Libyan sector says he is holding the remains of four Turkish soldiers and a Syrian militia leader following the heavy fighting in Ain Zara south of the capital last week. The general called on the International Red Cross to transport the bodies to Turkey in the absence of a reaction from the Turkish side.

Embarrassing announcement for Ankara

Earlier, General Ahmed al-Mismari, spokesman for the ANL, said on his Facebook page that his forces had foiled a Turkish attack aimed at breaking through the front lines south of Tripoli. He asked the Turkish authorities to recover the bodies of their soldiers.

This announcement could be very embarrassing for Turkey. Indeed, since last January, Ankara has been quietly burying its fallen soldiers in Libya. Despite the recognition of President Reçep Tayyip Erdogan of the deaths of two soldiers in Tripoli , the two journalists who revealed the identity of his soldiers have since been imprisoned. Their information site is closed.

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• Libya
• Turkey

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