Although nearly two weeks have passed since the bombing of the Al-Wattia base in Libya, and in light of the official silence at the military and political levels in Turkey, the biggest question in the media and political circles is still centered on the party or country that carried out the air strikes on the base.
On July 4, "unknown" warplanes carried out several raids on the strategic al-Wataya air base in western Libya, which is believed to have targeted Turkish military equipment at the base to prevent Ankara from using it as a fixed military base in Libya.
On the official level, there has been no political or military comment in Turkey, except for a permit informally conveying an official in the Ministry of Defense to Anatolia, in which he said that the shelling of al-Watiyah shows the desire of retired Major General Haftar and his foreign supporters to continue chaos in Libya, without providing any further Details, particularly with regard to who carried out the attack.
The Libyan Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense Salah Al-Namroush stated that the aircraft targeting the brigade are very advanced, and Haftar cannot own them. Meanwhile, army spokesman Mohamed Kanounou said only that "the raids were carried out by foreign aircraft supporting Haftar." He added, "Yesterday, a militia leader was saying in Moscow that they accepted the cease-fire and today they are returning to the treachery that we witnessed from them."
Russian target
Al-Jazeera Net contacted a special source in the presidency of the Republic of Turkey and obtained information about the party that bombed the Al-Wataya base, where the Turkish source confirmed that Russia was the one that bombed the Al-Wataya base and not Egypt, the UAE or Haftar's forces.
He pointed out that the Russians avoided hitting the Turkish weapons present in the base, and they were satisfied with hitting American weapons they were in, explaining that the base included Turkish defense systems, radars and electronic jamming systems recently transferred to it in order to strengthen defenses in it in preparation for the beginning of its use by the Turkish army, and it was not harmed. In the bombing of al-Qaeda.
The Turkish source also denied what was reported in some media outlets about the possibility of Turkey deploying the Russian S-400 air defense system in Libya in anticipation of Egyptian military intervention.
A proxy war
In his speech to Al Jazeera Net, the former chief of military intelligence at the Turkish Chief of Staff Ismail Hakki ruled out the occurrence of a direct Turkish clash with Egypt or Russia or any other force in Libya, indicating that American support for Turkey in Libya would prevent Egypt and the UAE from entering direct wars with Turkey, The Turkish-Russian cooperation in various international files also paves the way for any war between them.
The Turkish military expert did not rule out the right of a proxy war between the actors and the conflicting parties in Libya.
He said, "Ankara will continue to support the Al-Wefaq government in Tripoli politically and militarily until the liberation of Al-Jufra and the strategic city of Sirte from Haftar's forces. Then it will support sitting at the negotiating table with the Libyan East and the parties supporting it."
Hakki believes that Turkey will not deploy the Russian S-400 air defense system in Libya, as Turkey has not, until this moment, activated it on its soil until it does it in Libya or anywhere else, and Russia does not accept that Ankara does so in Libya due to the dispute between Moscow and Ankara in Libyan file.
The Spanish newspaper Atelier has published a report in which it talked about the possibility of Ankara activating the Russian S-400 air defense systems in Libya, allowing it to increase its military capabilities on the Sirte-Jafra axis that Cairo is currently defending.
The Eurasia Times reported that the Rafale aircraft had easily bombed the Al-Watiyah base, which sparked discussions in Turkey about the deployment of the massive Russian S-400 missiles in Libya.
In the same context, a Libyan government source reported to the island the withdrawal of Russian mercenaries from the Libyan city of Sirte, amid indications that the forces of the National Accord Government may soon launch a military operation to recover the city from Haftar's forces despite the "red line" set by Cairo.
The Libyan government source said that the militants of the Russian Wagner company had dismantled air defense radars from one of the areas in Sirte and then withdrew from the city in the direction of the Crescent Oil Ports east and controlled by Haftar forces.