Libya Army Air Strikes Targets in Misrata, Adheres to Ceasefire in Tripoli

The national army in Libya announced that its air force bombed this morning mobile targets of Misrata militias affiliated with Al-Wefaq forces, in the Abu Qurain area south of Misrata.

The army added in a statement that its air force personnels carried out 3 violent and accurate air strikes, which resulted in the destruction of a number of military vehicles belonging to the militias of the city of Misrata, which were moving away the city center, a week after the Libyan army took control of it.

The battles at the outskirts of Misrata between the Libyan army and the militias affiliated with Al-Wefaq, are continuing for the second month, amid expectations that these areas will turn into a second front for fighting as the capital Tripoli, is witnessing a ceasefire.

Analysts believed the Libyan army has succeeded in luring the Misrata militias and dragging them to areas of clashes, as it approached the city center.

Earlier, the United Nations announced that the round of talks it sponsored recently between the parties to the conflict in Libya, ended without reaching a ceasefire agreement, noting that it had invited the two parties to meet again next Tuesday.

The talks of the 5 + 5 Joint Military Committee, which started its work last Monday, took place at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, with the presence and participation of the head of the United Nations Mission in Libya, Ghassan Salameh.

On the other hand, UN sources told Sky News Arabia that 3,000 Syrian militants have been deployed in the areas of Al-Wefaq government led by Fayez Al-Sarraj, in western Libya.

The sources confirmed information indicating that Turkish military aircraft transported Syrian fighters from Gaziantep (on the Syrian-Turkish border) to Istanbul, and then to Libya.

They noted that the team of experts of the Security Council Sanctions Committee concerned with Libya began investigating accusations against Turkey of transferring foreign fighters from Syria to Libya.

The estimates of the UN sources are slightly lower than those of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which says that the total number of Syrian mercenaries in Libya is now 4,700.

On January 19, French President Emmanuel Macron called, during the summit on Libya in Berlin, for "stop" sending Syrian pro-Turkish fighters to Libya in support of the Tripoli government.

The flow of Syrian mercenaries continued, however, to areas under the control of Al-Saraj government. Turkey is taking advantage of the old airport, which is the only airport operating in the Libyan capital, to transport mercenaries via unregistered flights.