More than 300 military cargo flights ... Why do the UAE and Russia insist on supplying weapons to Haftar?

In statements to the "Beyond the News" program (3/9/2020), Al-Rawati added that Russia finds financial support from the UAE in its support for the forces of the retired Libyan Major General Khalifa Haftar, as Russia aspires not to move away from the Libyan issue as America wants. It is expected that it will continue the military build-up without reaching a political settlement.

He explained that the UAE covers the costs of weapons provided to Haftar's forces, because its plan is for chaos to reign and Libya to fail to reach any political solution.

For his part, the expert on UN affairs, Abdul Hamid Siyam, said that there is an international team with a mandate from the Security Council that monitors the situation in Libya and submits periodic reports with all impartiality and credibility, explaining that the history of the trips, documents and photos attached to the reports cannot be refuted.

Siyam added that there are countries that do not take international law seriously through their lack of commitment to stop arming Haftar's forces and their insistence on practicing their illegal activities, stressing that the UAE is the one that funds these weapons, and it has persuaded Russia to intervene in Libya.

On the other hand, political and strategic analyst Andrei Frolov said that from the official point of view, Russia recognizes the Government of National Accord in Tripoli and does not support the retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, considering that what is being said in this regard is just rumors, especially since there are no direct aircraft from Russia to Libya.

No evidence

Frolov explained that most of the aircraft heading to Libya took off from Syria, and therefore it is difficult to determine the true source of the weapons that are transferred from there, stressing that there is no official evidence regarding Russia's involvement or participation in supporting Haftar's forces.

It is noteworthy that a diplomatic source told Al-Jazeera that an international team had documented Russia's conduct of more than 300 military cargo flights, to support Haftar in Libya between the end of last year and July of this year.

The New York Times quoted a UN report confirming US reports that Russia and the UAE have sent hundreds of air shipments of mercenaries and weapons to Haftar.