Despite the Libyan-Libyan dialogue and international demands for their removal | Thousands of Turkish-backed Syrian mercenaries are still in Libya
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights continues to highlight the issue of “mercenaries” of Syrian nationalities in Libyan territory, where the back-and forth transfer operations of Turkish-backed mercenaries continue, as some batches of fighters return from Libya to Syria, while other batches go from Syria to Libya, and these operations in both ways are done by Turkey.
The returning group often consists of 100 to 250 mercenaries, and similar numbers are going to Libya. According to Syrian Observatory sources, the return of fighters from Libya should meet certain conditions such as health and security conditions.
Meanwhile, some mercenaries are fleeing the headquarters and camps to inside Libyan territory, while others are still trying to reach Europe through Italy, as they were not allowed to return to Syria and did not get their monthly salaries, with constant salary cuts.
Syrian Observatory sources have said that the salaries are being handed over after the expiry of the fighters’ contracts and return to Syria. The Turkish government pays the expenses of food and military medicine for its proxy fighters, while the other needs at the expense of mercenaries.
The Syrian Observatory would like to point out that the numbers of mercenaries of Turkish-backed factions have not changed due to the back-and forth transfer operations of mercenaries.
On the other side, SOHR sources have reported that the Russian “Wagner Company” continues to recruit Syrians and send them as mercenaries to protect its regional interests in Libya. Young men and men from Al-Sweida province and several Syrian provinces were recently recruited and sent to Libya, as Russia exploits the disastrous living conditions in Syria, taking advantage of the pressing need of young men and men to work and secure the necessities of their daily life.
On January 17, reliable sources informed the Syrian Observatory that a new batch of Ankara-backed mercenaries in Libya returned to Syrian territory in the last hours. It is worth noting that this is the second batch of fighters returned from Libya in days, after the suspension of the return of fighters for two months, specifically since mid-November 2020.
According to Syrian Observatory sources, the second batch, which comprised nearly 95 fighters, returned after mediation by the leaders of their groups.
On the other hand, reports suggested that a group of about 200 Turkish-backed fighters gone to Libyan territory in the last few days, where they were secretly transported.
On January 14, reliable sources told the Syrian Observatory that a new batch of the Turkish-backed Syrian mercenaries returned from Libya to Syria in the past few days. This batch is the first one to return from Libya to Syria in two months, exactly since mid-November 2020.
It is worth noting that the return of this batch, which comprised 40 fighters, was not normal, especially with the ongoing suspension of return of mercenaries from Libya to Syria. According to SOHR sources, these fighters had paid bribes of an estimated 500 USD each to doctors in Libya in return for writing reports stating that their health conditions were poor and that they had to return to Syria. The mercenaries later provided these reports to their commanders in order to permit their return to Syria, before they were transported to Turkey then to Syria.
SOHR sources have confirmed that the mercenaries recently returned have got only a quarter of allocated monthly salaries, as each fighter was given only 500 USD every month instead of 2000 USD. Moreover, these fighters have not been paid any salaries for more than five months.