Israel confirms its supervision of training Haftar militias with Emirati funding
Israeli reports confirmed that Israel has trained members of the Khalifa Haftar militias in Libya, funded by the United Arab Emirates, to serve the Abu Dhabi plots to spread chaos and sabotage in the country.
The Israeli newspaper “Jerusalem Post” highlighted that Israeli officers trained Haftar militias in street wars in the territories under their control during the past two months of August and September.
The newspaper added that the UAE provided General Khalifa Haftar’s forces, the Libyan National Army commander, with Israeli missile defense systems to counter the drones used by the forces loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA).
The UAE is using its suspicious regional ties to support the Haftar militia, including its suspected military and security cooperation with Israel.
Sources revealed that the UAE is contracting a sophisticated air defense system from Israel in an attempt to reduce the efficiency of the flying system owned by the GNA, according to the newspaper, “The New Arab” published in London.
The sources said that there is a great case of Emirati mobilization in an attempt to save Haftar’s military campaign against the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and its continued control over the areas that he reached around the capital.
This comes after the heavy losses suffered by Haftar in Washata, and Sirte, where about 12 senior leaders of his militia were killed in successful air strikes by the GNA, in addition to the large material losses in terms of weapons and equipment.
The sources indicated that the UAE contracted with Israel to provide Haftar with a sophisticated air defense system, produced by an Israeli defense company, and transported to Egypt directly, in preparation for transferring it to Haftar’s spheres of influence in Libya, after training Libyan officers from his militia on them.
Yesterday, the GNA revealed that an Egyptian-funded arms shipment to the Haftar militia was arriving through the port of Tobruk in eastern Libya.
The GNA said that a ship coming from Egypt is carrying 40 tons of weapons and ammunition to support the Haftar militias in the fighting axes south of Tripoli.
Three people were killed and eight others were wounded by Haftar forces in an aerial bombardment targeting a convoy of theirs on the Bani Walid and Tarhuna road southeast of Tripoli.
The GNA said that Emirati armed vehicle were destroyed in the operation.
A commander in the rank of colonel of the Haftar Forces was also killed in Salahuddin south of Tripoli, and civilian cars were burned in a bombardment carried out by Haftar forces on a residential neighborhood in the Abu Salim area, which is targeted for the third day in a row.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Justice in the GNA said that a specialized committee monitored all violations committed by the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, since its attack on Tripoli on the fourth of April 2019.
The ministry added, in a statement, that among the documented violations committed by Haftar forces were the representation of corpses of members of the government of reconciliation forces, murders that included civilians in the city of Tarhuna, southeast of Tripoli, targeting the Al-Khadra Hospital, one of the sites designated to confront the COVID-19 patinas, and closing the artificial river system The cities of the western region with water.
The Ministry called on the Military Prosecutor and the Office of the Public Prosecutor to refer these crimes to the International Criminal Court, so that their perpetrators, including the United Arab Emirates supporting the commission of these crimes, do not escape impunity.
