Libyan Al-Wefaq government forces said they had monitored the arrival of 5 Russian planes carrying ammunition and mercenaries to Sirte and Al-Jafra to support the forces of retired general Khalifa Hifter, amid an international warning of the danger of a regional confrontation in Libya.
A spokesman for the Sirte Jafra liberation room of the Al-Wefaq government said that 5 Russian planes carrying mercenaries and ammunition had already arrived in Sirte and Jufra.
Brigadier Abdul Hadi Dara added, "Russian support continues for this rebel and its soldiers. On Saturday, we monitored the arrival of 5 flights of Russian military cargo planes loaded with equipment and equipment to Sirte (north) and Jafra (center)."
He explained that his forces also monitored the arrival of two Russian flights from Syria to Benghazi Airport on Saturday, and the arrival of two Russian flights from Syria to Al-Abraq International Airport on Friday.
"All these Russian cargo planes carry mercenaries and materiel to the eastern region and Libyan soil," he concluded.
These developments come at a time when the Al-Wefaq forces continue to prepare to storm Sirte after they expelled Haftar from the capital, Tripoli, and the entire Libyan West.
Anadolu news agency reported that in April, Russia had collected about 300 armed men from Quneitra, southern Syria, and sent them to fight in Libya, after being subjected to short training in a camp in Homs.
Field reports say Haftar’s forces include a large number of mercenaries from Africa and the Middle East.
Regional war, for
its part, warned the United Nations of the outbreak of a regional confrontation in Libya because of the intervention of a number of external parties.
The Acting Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Libya, Stephanie Williams, said that the presence of a number of external bodies that have special agendas in the Libyan crisis makes the risk of a regional confrontation high.
Williams added, in press statements during her visit to the British capital, London, Saturday, that the Libyans are tired of the war that exhausted them and want peace, but they fear that it is not in their hands, as the battle between external competitors has become as much as a civil war.
Williams had earlier called on Libyans to seize the opportunity of Eid al-Adha to defeat the bonds of brotherhood and end the fighting, and it also expressed its hope that the language of love, tolerance and unity will prevail among the parties of the Libyan people.