Libyan Army Continues its Success in Shooting down Turkish Drones

The Libyan Army announced that its air defenses had shot down a Turkish plane in the early hours of Saturday morning, south of the capital, Tripoli.

This is the second Turkish plane to be shot down by the Libyan Air Force in two days, as it managed to shoot down one between the airport road and the project area south of Tripoli.

The Libyan Army had also shot down a drone on the 13th of the last December after it entered the no-fly zone south of the capital.

The Turkish parliament approved on Thursday the deployment of troops, advisors, and equipment to Libya to assist the GNA, the internationally recognized authority that governs only a small part of the country.

General Haftar, who is running the LNA on behalf of a competing Tobruk-based legislature, threatened to "confront and expel" foreign forces on Friday.

"In order to counter the Turkish aggression, we announce jihad and general mobilization," Haftar said. "The peaceful Turkish people will stand up against the invaders who are pushing their army to be wiped out in Libya."

Haftar's LNA has advanced in fits and begins on Tripoli since April 2019, gaining control over most of Libya, with the exception of the deep southern desert.

After the NATO-backed regime-change operation in 2011, Libya collapsed into chaos and civil war, overthrew Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's government, which had run the country since 1969.

Update: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Sunday, January 5th the start of the deployment of Turkish soldiers in Libya, based on the green light given to him by the Turkish parliament a few days ago.