Turkey conducted Tuesday a replacement operation for dozens of Syrian mercenaries in Libya, about half a month after the stoppage of switching Syrian mercenary factions, at a time when the “5+5” Joint Military Commission seeks to end the presence of foreign fighters and mercenaries on Libyan soil with UN support and supervision, which was agreed on in the recent Geneva and Cairo meetings.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the return of 150 mercenaries to Syria via Turkey, after obtaining a break, while Ankara sent 150 others to Libya through flights that departed from Turkey to Libya.
The observatory had reported in the middle of last month that the operations of switching Syrian mercenaries had stopped, according to its sources, indicating that hundreds of mercenaries were waiting for permission to leave Libya on vacations to Syria, and in return hundreds are waiting to be sent to Libya. The observatory did not explain the reasons for stopping operations, until November 02.
The file of withdrawing all mercenaries and foreign fighters from Libya is a major guarantor of the success of the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for the end of the year, and the consolidation of the ceasefire agreement, while observers warned of the inaction or complicity of local parties with the steps to withdraw mercenaries established by the 5+5 JMC in advance, which is relied upon by the international community to end the armed conflict and head to the polls on December 24.
