As the deadline of foreign mercenaries’ pullout from Libya ended | Thousands of Syrian fighters still in Libya, despite international demands of departure

Although a week has passed after the end of the deadline given to foreign mercenaries to leave Libya, thousands of Syrian fighters have not returned so far. According to the Libyan-Libyan agreement reached on October 23, 2020, all foreign fighters in Libya supposed to leave the country in no more three months starting from the beginning of ceasefire in Libya. However, thousands of mercenaries of Turkish-backed factions are still in Libya. Even the batches of Turkish-backed mercenaries that arrived in Syria in the past few days and weeks were met by sending new batches to Libya.

 

This development coincides with ongoing international calls, demanding the departure of foreign forces from Libya.

 

Thousands of Russian-backed mercenaries, however, are also still in Libya. Moreover, the Russian company of “Wagner” has recruited more young males and adults in Syria, then it sent them to Libya.

 

On Wednesday, reliable SOHR sources confirmed that a state of anger was prevailing among the Turkish-backed Syrian mercenaries in Libya, as a new batch of them was supposed to return to Syria, or even to Turkey, in the past hours. However, the return of this batch was cancelled, which ignited new discontent among the mercenaries who already packed up and got ready to return.

 

While on Monday, reliable sources told the Syrian Observatory that a new batch of the Turkish-backed Syrian mercenaries in Libya was expected to return to Syria, or to Turkey at least, in the following hours, as nearly 150 mercenaries were informed by their commanders to set themselves ready to return.

 

It was not known if another batch would leave from Syria to Libya with the arrival of the new batch, at a time when the mercenaries’ payments were deducted and delayed by the Turkish-backed factions’ commanders.

 

Two days earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that it continued to highlight the issue of “mercenaries” of Syrian nationalities in Libyan territory, where the back-and forth transfer operations of Turkish-backed mercenaries continued, as some batches of fighters returned from Libya to Syria, while other batches left from Syria to Libya, and these operations in both ways were done by Turkey.

 

The returning group often consisted of 100 to 250 mercenaries, and similar numbers were going to Libya. According to Syrian Observatory sources, the return of fighters from Libya should have met certain conditions such as poor health or security conditions.

 

Meanwhile, some mercenaries were fleeing the headquarters and camps to inside Libyan territory, while others were still trying to smuggle themselves to Europe through Italy, as they were not allowed to return to Syria and did not get their monthly salaries, along with constant salary cuts.

 

Syrian Observatory sources said that the salaries were being handed over after the expiry of the fighters’ contracts and return to Syria. The Turkish government paid the expenses of food and military medicine for its proxy fighters, while the other needs were at the expense of mercenaries.

 

The Syrian Observatory would like to point out that the numbers of mercenaries of Turkish-backed factions did not change due to the back-and forth transfer operations of mercenaries.

 

On the other hand, SOHR sources reported that the Russian “Wagner Company” continued to recruit Syrians and send them as mercenaries to serve its regional interests in Libya. Young men and men from Al-Suwaidaa province and several Syrian provinces were recently recruited and sent to Libya, as Russia exploited 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.