A Syrian recruiter for a Turkish-backed militia stationed in Libya confirmed that they had sent youths, “under the age of 18 with zero military experience to fight in Libya, due to the increased Turkish intelligence request for Syrian mercenaries in Tripoli.”
In statements to the US newspaper, ‘International Interest’, Abo Saied said, “When the fighting in Libya was at its peak, we had to send as many fighters as we could recruit. The Turks were asking for 2,000 men; our battalion is only 500 strong. So, we started sending kids with zero military experience.”
Recruitment spreadsheets provided by Saied showed that at least three fighters sent to Libya were under eighteen years old. Shipping anyone available became the norm. Militias swept prisons and gave detained Kurdish men the option to fight or stay locked up. “Many Kurds,” Saied noted, “reluctantly took the offer.”
Saied was again recruiting for the war in the Caucasus, but had to change tactics. As in Libya, Turkey had outsourced recruitment to Syrian commanders, but those freewheeling days with no restrictions and little oversight were over.
Now, according to Saied, the Turks “paid more attention, and they insisted we send experienced fighters.” The vetting process improved. As recruiters understood it, the Turks viewed the Azeris as “brothers,” and their support for Azerbaijan was ideological, unlike their support for the former Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), which was “contractual and based on geopolitical interests.”
Recruiters maintain that their primary contact was with Turkish intelligence, while logistics were outsourced to “unknown companies.” It is likely that those companies are affiliated with SADAT, the Turkish private military company (PMC). This was founded by Adnan Tanrıverdi, a former Brigadier General, and close confidant of Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In a 2020 report, the US Department of Defense stated that SADAT “maintains supervision and payment of the estimated 5,000 pro-GNA Syrian fighters in Libya.” Yet compared to the Turkish military and intelligence, SADAT’s importance in mercenary recruitment is difficult to ascertain. Still, the company likely coordinates, at least to some degree, with Turkish intelligence services.
While Syrian fighters have now left Azerbaijan, they remain based in Libya, where they are often bored and subjected to exploitation. One of the fighters, Mohamed has been in Libya for a year. “Hashish,” according to him, “is more popular than crystal meth because it’s cheaper. We have too much free time.”
Mercenaries rarely leave their bases. At first, during the fighting, this was because they feared kidnapping. Now, “they know their isolation is a product of Libyans’ hatred.” Mohammed says that the “Libyans see us as vandals.” The Syrian mercenaries are unpopular among Libya’s militias. For instance, in early August, two Syrians stationed around Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport were killed in an anonymous attack.