The Libyan military leader, Khalifa Haftar, may have acquired Chinese and Turkish combat drones, despite a United Nations weapons embargo, according to Reuters. Satellite images taken between April and December of last year show at least three drones at Al Khadim desert airbase, located about 100 kilometers east of Benghazi. Experts who reviewed the images noted that ground control equipment for the aircraft was still visible as of this year.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) played a significant role in Libya’s civil war from 2014 to 2020, during which Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) attempted to oust the UN-recognized government in Tripoli. Haftar accused the government of harboring armed gangs and “terrorists, “a claim the government denied. UN investigators pointed out that the UAE, Egypt, Russia, and other countries supported Haftar, while Turkey backed the Tripoli-based administration and China remained neutral. A ceasefire was agreed upon in 2020, but the country remains divided.
The arrival of new combat drones at Al Khadim would be a significant symbolic victory for Haftar, according to Anas El Gomati, head of the Libyan think tank the Sadeq Institute. El Gomati told Reuters that the drones reinforced Haftar’s control over the east and much of the south, including major oilfields, and bolstered his position in negotiations for a unified Libyan government. However, El Gomati added that Haftar’s LNA is not known to possess the technical expertise to pilot those drones.
The experts who reviewed the satellite images identified one drone as most likely a Chinese — made Feilong-1 (FL-1), an advanced surveillance and attack drone. The other two drones appeared to be less powerful Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones. Reuters reported that it could not determine who supplied the drones, when, or whether China, Turkey, or any other UN member states applied for exemptions to the embargo to send drones to eastern Libya.
Satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters showed a type of drone not previously seen in Libya parked outside a hangar at the Al Khadim base between late April and July last year. The same type of drone also appeared on the Al Khadim runway in a May 3 image from US satellite imaging company Vantor. Wim Zwijnenburg, a military technology expert at the Dutch peace organisation PAX, suggested that the drone was being flown, and that its dimensions and body shape were similar to a Wing Loong II, but the wing design made it more likely to be a Feilong-1.
Few photographs have been released of the drone type, making it difficult to identify with certainty. A new shelter was completed in November over the spot where the drone had been parked. A truck carrying satellite equipment, likely used to pilot the aircraft, was standing near the apron as recently as January 12. Two smaller drones appeared on the same apron at Al Khadim in a Vantor image on December 17, consistent with Turkish TB2 drones.
The experts who reviewed the satellite imagery said two ground control units with distinctive double — antenna, spotted by satellite imagery between July and March, strongly suggest that TB2s were operating in the area. Satellite images from California-based Planet Labs showed Al Khadim had undergone extensive renovations since early last year, including at least three new hangars where the drones were spotted.
Russian forces, which use Libya as a springboard for their own operations in West and Central Africa, have been based at Al Khadim. However, the experts speaking to Reuters did not think Russians were operating the drones in the imagery. Russia’s defense and foreign ministries did not respond to Reuters’requests for comment.
Neither did the LNA, the Tripoli — based government, the governments of China and Turkey, nor the drones’manufacturers, Xi’an-based defense company Zhongtian Feilong and Baykar based in Istanbul. The UN Security Council committee handling requests did not answer questions about the drones. The UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) referred Reuters to a Security Council resolution last year expressing “grave concern” over continued violations of the arms embargo.
The UN embargo has been in place since 2011 when a NATO-backed uprising toppled Libya’s longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
Source: aljazeera
