Libya has turned into a large airfield for military planes coming from around the world, specifically the major countries that had a say in the Libyan crisis.
Over the past days, several military cargo planes from Italy, the United States (US), Turkey, Germany, as well as other countries, were seen flying over the Libyan territories. It is a clear and explicit violation of the country’s sovereignty and its airspace.
On June 1st, the Falcon EX 700 plane affiliated with the Italian intelligence service flew from Italy and headed directly to the Tripoli International Airport. It was not detected by tracking devices near Mitiga Airport.
On the same day, the US Air Force Dornier C146 landed at the Misrata’s Air College, coming from Tunisia. It took off again after only 55 minutes, heading North and passing through Italian airspace.
On June 5th, two flights of a Boeing C17 military cargo plane affiliated with the US Air Force were monitored. The first flight took off from Italy heading to Benghazi, and stayed there for about two hours, then took off and returned again,l from its base in Italy to land in Misrata. It seems that the US is carrying out a clandestine mission in the two cities.
On June 9th, the US Air Force Boeing C17 military plane landed at the Air College in Misrata from Germany. It took off again two hours later heading to Malta. On the same day, a Lockheed C130 aircraft affiliated with the Italian Air Force landed in Tripoli.
Yesterday, two Turkish military cargo planes, “A400 and C130”, landed at the Al-Watiya Air Base in western Libya. One of the planes took off from the Eğitim-Söğüt military base near Ankara, and the other from a military base near Izmir.
Today, a US Department of Defence-affiliated Havilland Dash military cargo plane left an airport in eastern Libya bound for Malta, as the takeoff from eastern Libya has not been identified, but it is likely to be from Benina airport.
Turkey continues to periodically send military aircrafts to Libya, with more than ten flights landing at the Uqba bin Nafi Airbase in the Watiya region, last month. The planes are believed to be transporting military supplies.
Last year, Turkish Defence Minister, Hulusi Akar, stated that the Turkish soldiers and Syrian mercenaries in Libya would remain to preserve Ankara’s interests.