The Intercept reported that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating a failed support plan developed by mercenaries in a private American security company in 2019 to assist the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar in his war against the legitimate Libyan government.
The site quoted informed US officials as saying that the investigation seeks to determine the role that Eric Prince, the former head of "Blackwater", which provides private security services, may have played in that plan.
They noted that last summer, federal investigators opened an investigation into Prince's involvement in an attempt to sell and transfer Jordanian military weapons and helicopters to Libya as part of a plan to help Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar overthrow the United Nations-backed Libyan government.
The website pointed out that an investigation conducted by the United Nations last February found that Prince and several other participants in the plan had violated the arms embargo imposed on Libya by the United Nations, and the investigation revealed details of aspects of a secret plan to provide mercenaries and warplanes to an assassination unit working for Haftar.
Prince denied any connection with the plan, which became known as "Project Opus", and said in a statement to the American newspaper "New York Times" that he had never met or spoken to Haftar.
Matthew Schwartz, one of Prince's lawyers, also denied his client any connection to the aforementioned mercenary plan to support Haftar and said, "As Prince has repeatedly said, he has nothing to do with any alleged military operation in Libya in 2019, and the report that hinted otherwise is based on an incomplete investigation and relies on on biased sources.
The Intercept website had published details regarding Prince's repeated efforts to transfer military helicopters and other military equipment from Jordan to Libya, and for this he held meetings with a member of the National Security Council in the administration of US President Donald Trump at the time, but Jordanian officials stopped the deal, according to the website.