"The liberation of" Sirte and Al-Jafra "has become more urgent than ever," after hundreds of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Company and other nationalities were deployed in them, said Mohammed Qanunu, spokesman for the forces of the Libyan National Accord Government.

Kanounou added, in a military statement read on Saturday evening, that "the city of Sirte has become the most dangerous place for security and peace in Libya, after it has become a focus of the mercenaries of the Russian Wagner Company," and who he described as "criminal gangs."

Kanunu blamed "the responsibility of the presence of the Russian, Syrian and African mercenaries and their control of the oil fields in Libya" for the Libyan parties "that supported the rebels and the coupists."

He said that the responsibility is also borne by "Arab and foreign countries that contributed to bringing them and today make their places red streaks."

He considered that "it is unacceptable to talk about a ceasefire at a time when foreign mercenaries occupy Sirte and Al-Jafra and control Libyan oil fields in collusion with rebels at home and known external parties," he said.

International discomfort

For her part, Acting Special Representative of the United Nations, Stephanie Williams, expressed her dismay at reports that groups of mercenaries entered the Sharara oil field, southwestern Libya, and other oil installations, which threatens to turn it into a conflict zone.

During her meeting with President of the Presidential Council of the Al-Wefaq Government, Fayez al-Sarraj, Williams discussed the efforts of the UN mission in the military, security and economic tracks, and the resumption of the political track, in addition to the issue of mines laid by the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter in civilian homes south of the capital Tripoli.

And Libyan military sources have confirmed the deployment of about 3,500 mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Company in the cities and administrative areas of the Al-Jafra region in the center of the country.

The sources pointed out that these mercenaries control the Al-Jafra air base and camps in which there are runways for drones.

She added that large numbers of Wagner mercenaries are stationed in the form of armed groups with civilian farms and neighborhoods in the cities of Al-Jafra, and that they have more than 15 Russian-made air defense systems of the "Pantzer" type.

The sources also confirmed that Wagner gunmen ambushed locations around which they were stationed in the cities of Sokhna, Hawn, and Wadan, including civilian facilities, farms, water tanks, a number of educational institutions, student housing, and grain stores.

oil fields

Earlier Friday, the Libyan National Oil Corporation expressed concern about the presence of mercenaries from Wagner and other nationalities in the Sharara field, in the south of the country.

The foundation said in a statement that a convoy of dozens of military vehicles entered the Sharara field, on Thursday, to prevent the resumption of exports after a siege that lasted for months.

On June 20, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said in a televised address to leaders and soldiers in a region adjacent to the border with Libya, that "any direct intervention in Libya has become international legality."

Addressing the army forces, he added, "It crossed Sirte and Al-Jafra a red line ... Our goal will be to protect the western borders (of Egypt), and quickly support the restoration of security and stability on the Libyan scene, as part of the Egyptian national security, inject the blood of the Libyan people, stop the immediate fire, and launch comprehensive negotiations." Under the auspices of the United Nations. "

The Libyan Al-Wefaq government denounced more than once what it said was military support that Egypt, the UAE, France and Russia provided to Haftar's forces, especially in its attack on the capital, Tripoli, which began on April 4, 2019.

Recently, Haftar's forces retreated and lost the entire administrative borders of Tripoli and most of the cities and regions in the western region to the forces of the Al-Wefaq government.