A shipment of 40 Turkish armored vehicles and arms reached Tripoli Port Saturday, coming from Samsun Port in Turkey.
Claims surfaced about the coalition forces loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) received the shipment, carrying dozens of Turkish-made BMC Kirpi armored vehicles.
However, neither the GNA nor Turkish officials have made any comment regarding the shipment.
Previously, several shipments of weapons and ammunition arrived from Turkey, violating the UN resolution banning the sale and transfer of arms to Libya.
In December, the Misurata port’s customs office seized on January 7 a shipment of weapons containing Turkish pistols inside a container with some household items and children’s toys used as camouflage.
It added that 556 cartons, each containing 36 pistols, which is equivalent to about 20,000 pistols, were seized.
The Libyan authorities also foiled in January an attempt to smuggle shipments of Turkish arms into Libya through the port of Misurata and Khoms
The Libyan National Army spokesperson Ahmed al-Mismari said two weeks ago that Turkey is a “sponsor of terrorism;” its President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has supported the GNA in its war against the LNA’s advance in the western region,
In his statement, Mismari added that the eastern army is fighting terrorism sponsored by different states that support the GNA, as the latter has relied on militias in its battle for Tripoli.
Meanwhile, Benghazi-based interim government called Tuesday on the international community to take an action against the support of Qatar and Turkey for armed groups and militias in Libya.
It said head of the GNA Faiez al-Sarraj uses armed groups to fight the LNA, referring to “evidence” that the GNA has spent $800,000 on foreign technicians and pilots.
