Report: Turkey and Qatar recruited more than 2,000 Somali mercenaries to fight in Libya

The website of Somali Guardian showed on Friday that Turkey and Qatar recruited more than 2,000 Somali mercenaries to combat in Libya with the Government of National Accord (GNA).

Certain of the Somali youths recruited by Doha and Ankara informed the website Somali Guardian that many of their country-mates were already deployed on the frontlines in Libya and were waiting to be sent to areas of active combat.

The report added that the Somalis have been taken the Qatari citizenship earlier and they were disappointed to be called as mercenaries by certain media.

According to the same report, several Somali youths declared that poverty and unemployment forced them to throw their lives into a raging fire. Besides, and according to the Syrian Observatory, Turkey had sent thousands of Syrian fighters to support the GNA.

The Libyan conflict

Since the 2011 toppling of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has fallen into chaos. The confrontations between the two main warring parties in the country, which are the Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Khalifa Haftar and the Government of National Accord (GNA), led by Fayez al-Serraj, have increased lately.

Furthermore, many foreign powers have supported various part of the conflict, with the most important countries being Turkey supporting the GNA, while and Egypt backing the LNA.

Otherwise, the possibility of a novel escalating of the conflict in the North African country intensified after that the parliament of Egypt authorized the deployment of troops outside the country, allowing Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi to act on his threat of military action towards forces backed by Turkey in Libya.

Turkish media reported that Ankara made a plan to intensify its forces and military equipment in Libya to combat Egyptian forces when Cairo decides to act too.

Qatar and Turkey

It is noted that Qatar and Turkey have become close in recent years since Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt interrupt their relations with Qatar in 2017, by reason that it supports terrorism, while Doha denied that.

Doha also helped Ankara to strengthen its foreign reserves with a $15 billion deal reported in May to help the struggling economy of Turkey.

Qatari Minister of State for Defense met On Monday Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to discuss the recent developments of the Libyan situation.