Retired Libyan Major General Khalifa Hifter said that his forces included a large number of the Salafi movement, described them as patriots, and urged them to resist what he described as a new Turkish invasion of Libya.
In a speech delivered during his visit to the headquarters of the Tariq bin Ziyad al-Salafi Brigade in the city of Benghazi (eastern Libya), and broadcast by loyalist websites, Hifter added that the fighting Salafi movement in his forces inflicted some injustice, and that he saw in him hope to rid Libya of what he described as the aggressors.
He attacked Turkey's support for the government of the Libyan National Accord, as he attacked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and called on his fighters from the mainstream to address what he considered Turkey's quest to "colonize" Libya.
He addressed the members of the Tenth Company in the Tariq bin Ziyad battalion, saying, "We do not like to see a Turk walking on his feet in front of these heroes."
In his speech in which he sought to raise the morale of his fighters after the defeats they suffered in the Libyan West, Haftar said that they should not show mercy with those he described as the aggressors "because they do not deserve mercy", as he put it.
The retired Libyan Major General praised his Salafi fighters, describing them as patriotic and religiously mobilized, as "a pinnacle of morals" and perseverance when meeting the enemy.
Haftar's tribute to these Salafis fighting in his forces, called the "Libyan National Army", comes despite accusations against many of them of carrying out mass executions and torture.
It also comes amid preparations by the forces of Haftar and the forces of the government of reconciliation for a possible battle in the city of Sirte, located 450 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli.