Turkey threatens major military operation if Libyan Army does not withdraw from Sirte

Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, stated on Monday that a military operation will be carried out in the event that the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, does not withdraw from the coastal city of Sirte.

He said in an interview with the state-owned TRT TV that “Sirte and Al-Jafra should be handed over to the Libyan Al-Wefaq government, and a military operation may be carried out in the event of no withdrawal from Sirte,” explaining that the “Al-Wefaq government” on the Libyan crisis had been presented to Moscow and we might hold an expert level meeting and another at the ministerial level. ”

Cavusoglu also expressed his country’s readiness to start exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean region, according to the “Ankara Agreement with the Government of National Accord”, and also willing to work with companies from other countries in this regard.

He also attacked Paris’ position again in Libya, and said that “France started to act hysterically after defeating Haftar in Libya.”

“We want to work with other countries in Libya, including France … A political solution is the only way to solve the Libyan crisis,” Cavusoglu said in a joint news conference with his German counterpart in Berlin.

He explained that his country “provides military consultations to the Libyan government within the framework of the agreement concluded with it,” criticizing at the same time France, which “supplies Haftar with weapons and this is not talked about.”

It should be noted that Egypt has declared Al-Jafra and Sirte to be its ‘red line’, as President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi warned that should Government of National Accord capture these area, his country will not stand idly by.Share this a