Turkish president confirms that he had sent Syrian fighters in Libya

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed for the first time that he had sent pro-Turkish Syrian fighters to Libya alongside Turkish training personnel.

“Turkey is there through a training force of the Libyan security forces,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul on Friday, adding that among the members of this force there are also people from the Syrian Free Army, an armed formation composed of extremists in Syria fighting against the Syrian armed forces and the government of Baššār al-Asad by joining terrorist groups such as Daesh and al-Qaeda.

The remarks of the Turkish president to send Syrian mercenaries to Libya comes after national and international pressure on this issue, where Erdogan has been exposed to a wave of anger and condemnation for the widespread refusal of the Turkish public intervention in Libya, which Erdogan has struck with all the international ban laws and their promises at the Berlin conference.

President of UN backed Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Serraj, had insisted on his right to seek Turkish military assistance on the basis of his government's agreement with it, which sparked a geopolitical conflict between the Eastern Mediterranean countries.

Al-Serraj confirmed to international press, as the American "The Times", that he resorted to seeking help and assistance from Syrian mercenaries because of the international support to the forces of the Libyan national army led by Feld Marshall Khalifa Haftar in his war against the armed groups that control the Libyan capitalTripoli.