The United Arab Emirates has reportedly supplied an Israeli air defense system to Libyan strongman Gen. Khalifa Haftar to counter Turkish drones supplied to his rival, as fighting to capture Tripoli intensifies.
According to a report in The New Arab, the system was supplied to counter Turkish drones as fighting around the capital picked up steam in recent days in an attempt to defeat the Government of National Accord, led by Fayez Sarraj.
The report alleges that the defense system was produced by an Israeli defense company and transferred to Egypt where fighters loyal to the warlord were trained on it before it was moved to Libya.
While it is unclear who had trained the Libyans, there have been multiple reports of Israelis training Haftar’s forces in street warfare, in territory under his control during August and September.
Though the UN Security Council has repeatedly renewed the arms embargo on Libya since 2011, both sides have received significant military aid by numerous countries.
Haftar, who sits in Tobruk in eastern Libya, has been heavily backed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France and Russia since 2014.
Read more: jpost
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