Ankara has responded to France's criticism over the Turkish role in Libya, accusing it of supporting retired Major General Khalifa Hifter despite his announcement seeking to topple the legitimate government. Meanwhile, NATO and the Pentagon expressed concern about Russia's military activity in favor of Haftar.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the French allegations about Ankara's position towards Libya is a new indication of "France's dark and unjustified policy towards Libya."

According to the statement, "the French approach encouraged Haftar," and France's support for Haftar despite his explicit announcement that he would topple the legitimate government to feed the Libyan crisis.

And the Turkish Foreign Ministry considered that the biggest obstacle to establishing peace and stability in Libya is the support provided by France and some countries to some illegal regimes in contravention of the UN Security Council resolutions.

She added that Turkey provides its support to the internationally recognized Libyan Al-Wefaq government within the framework of United Nations resolutions and at the request of this government.

On Monday, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Turkish role in Libya was "unacceptable and must end." She added that the Libyan government of Al-Wefaq continues the attack with Turkish support, "tremendously", despite agreeing to discuss a ceasefire.

It is noteworthy that France is accused of supporting Haftar politically and militarily, but it denies this, and relations between Turkey and France are strained against the backdrop of a number of issues, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this month that France's support for Haftar "really disturbed him."

NATO concern

On the other hand, the Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, described the situation in Libya as embarrassing, and expressed his concern over the Russian presence in it.

In a press conference held Tuesday before the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels, Stoltenberg said that NATO is concerned about the increasing Russian presence in the eastern Mediterranean, especially in Libya, stressing the importance of reaching a political solution there under the umbrella of the United Nations.

In the same context, the US military command in Africa (AFRICOM) estimated the Russian military presence in Libya at about two thousand active in the current period through the Wagner Group.

This came in statements by Nicole Kirchman, head of the media office in Africom, to a local Libyan channel.

Kirchman said that the heavy presence of mercenaries and Russian subsidiaries in the region was destabilizing Africa. She stressed that the political, not military, solution remains the key to resolving the crisis in Libya.

AFRICOM recently confirmed that Russia provided Haftar with warplanes, and published pictures showing some of these planes at the Al-Jafra airbase (650 km east of Tripoli), while the forces of the Al-Wefaq government confirmed that Russian mercenaries were working to mine Sirte and its surroundings as they had mined it by the southern suburbs of Tripoli .

On the other hand, Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, said that he had held a meeting with a delegation of the Abdullah Al Thani government in eastern Libya, and a representative of Khalifa Haftar's forces.

Bogdanov told the Russian Sputnik that the meeting discussed ways to get out of the Libyan crisis and aspects of settling the conflict, and pointed out that the meeting lasted four hours.

Erdogan and Merkel discussions

In the context of international contacts on Libya, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held video chats with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the situation in Libya and the eastern Mediterranean region.

German government spokesman Stephen Seibert said Merkel agreed with Erdogan that the UN-sponsored peace process in Libya should be strengthened to find a solution to the conflict there.

The Sirte Battle

Militarily, the Al-Wefaq government forces continue to send reinforcements to the city of Sirte (450 km east of Tripoli), and activists reported that fighters from the town of Zuwara in the west of the country joined forces stationed west of Sirte.

Al-Wefaq forces advanced about ten days ago, about 120 kilometers, to the outskirts of Sirte, but they faced minefields and were subjected to air strikes that caused losses in their ranks, which forced them to retreat to the Thirtieth Gate to become 50 kilometers from the city center.

The Turkish Anatolia News Agency quoted a spokesman for the joint operations room in Sirte al-Jafra of the reconciliation forces, Brigadier Abdul Hadi Dara, that the city of Sirte was a red line for them, and they would not give them up.

For his part, Al-Wefaq field commander, Major General Hussein Shaltati said that their forces were advancing towards Sirte after receiving instructions from the President of the Presidential Council of the Government, Fayez al-Sarraj, adding that the Al-Wefaq forces, despite the shelling and other difficulties it had suffered, are continuing to prepare and await orders to start the operation.

In recent weeks, with the support of Turkey, forces of the Al-Wefaq government expelled Haftar's forces from the cities and towns of the Libyan West, and are now preparing to regain control of the coastal city of Sirte.