On Friday, the Head of Libya’s High Council of State (HCS), Khaled Al-Mishri claimed that Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba “exploits drones to terrorise his political opponents.”
Commenting on the airstrike on Al-Zawiya city, Al-Mishri expressed his rejection of “deploying drones to settle political scores under the pretext of combating crime.”
He called on the Presidential Council to “withdraw the authority over drones and their usage from Dbaiba. The Presidential Council is the Supreme Leader of the Libyan Army.”
Al-Mishri also claimed that the “smuggling of oil and fuel is carried out on a large scale by officials and advisers to the PM. Turkey has nothing to do with these drone strikes, but rather those drones are run by Dbaiba.”
On Thursday, the Official Spokesman for the Government of National Unity (GNU), Mohamed Hammouda commented on the airstrikes that targeted various areas in Al-Zawiya.
“This morning our national air force carried out successful and targeted airstrikes against a number of hideouts of fuel smuggling, drug, and human trafficking gangs in the western coast,” he said in media statements.
Hammouda added that the operation was “launched on the direct orders by Dbaiba. These were part of a military plan to purge the areas along the west coast, and other sites of trafficking criminals and gangs.”
The spokesman stressed that they “will continue the military operations until all objectives are achieved.”
The Deputy Head of the Council of Elders of Al-Zawiya, Jumaa Al-Jilani confirmed that two people were injured as a result of the drone strikes. The Ambulance and Emergency Service announced that one person was slightly injured, near the Sayeda Zainab area, south of Al-Zawiya.
Meanwhile, MP Ali Bouzraiba claimed that Turkish drones had conducted the airstrikes, by order of Dbaiba. Turkey is believed to control a number of military bases in western Libya, most notably the Al-Watiya airbase.