Mercenaries: Erdogan's tools to support GNA and its militias

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to intervene in Libya to support the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and its prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.

Adnan Tanurdi, a senior Erdogan advisor, used to back terrorist elements in Libya through an organization known as "Sadat", which is responsible for management and training of military militias.

Indeed, more than a thousand elements were sent to Libya aboard flights of the Libyan and African airlines, in coordination with the Turkish side, in exchange for sums of money, indicating the size of the conspiracy led by Erdogan and al-Sarraj, the prime minister of the reconciliation government against the forces of the Libyan National Army.

A report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, released on Monday 30 December 2019, said that the process of moving elements from Syrian lands into Libyan territory is still ongoing, and has monitored a rise in the number of recruits who arrived in the Turkish camps to receive training to at least 1,600 mercenaries from the fighters of the factions.

Turkish intelligence established the Sultan Murad Brigade in March 2013, after the name Sultan Murad IV, and it is dominated by the Syrian Turkmen component, and Ankara provides him with military funding and training other than air support in its operations against the Syrian Kurds in the north of the country and against the Syrian army.

Turkey was interested in the militias of Sultan Murad IV, in order to displace the Kurds of Syria, as the organizations of the “Sultan Muhammad al-Fateh Brigade” were merged into Aleppo and the “Zaki Turkmen Brigade” and the “Cubs of the Creed” Brigade, the “Special Tasks Brigade” and the “Yarmouk Brigade”, and its operations focused on Aleppo, which represented a major crossing point for ISIS and terrorist organizations, as well as providing military and logistical support to all pro-Syrian organizations inside Syria.

Turkey considered it as its right arm. Therefore, other organizations such as the “Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade”, “Falcons of the Mountain” and “Ahrar al-Sharqiyya” included it and supplied it with medium and heavy weapons, including the American anti-tank missiles, and Turkish intelligence gave it armored vehicles to occupy the city of Afrin.

Sham Corps

Turkish intelligence established the “Corps of the Levant” in March 2014, also known as the Homs Corps; and it was stationed in the Syrian governorate of Homs, in order to support Turkey’s influence in northern Syria, as well as targeting the Syrian army and expelling the Kurds in preparation for Turkey to establish control over it.

It is noteworthy that the Libyan National Army has made important progress towards reaching the heart of Tripoli, since its commander, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar announced the launch of the decisive battle to liberate the city, which is controlled by armed militias, which made the Turkish president accelerate the steps of support provided to the government of reconciliation.