Libya conflict: Russian mercenaries from the shadowy Wagner Group are spearheading the battle for capital Tripoli
- Libya has been divided since 2014 into rival military and political camps based in the capital Tripoli and the east
- The Russian mercenaries are fighting for Khalifa Hifter’s forces against the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA)
The security chief of Libya’s UN-backed government in Tripoli said Russian mercenaries backing eastern commander Khalifa Hifter are now spearheading a battle to capture the capital.
Fathi Bashagha, the interior minister for the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), said fighters with the Russian Wagner group, headed by a confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin, are leading the battle on the frontlines in Tripoli’s outskirts, which has been accompanied by heavy shelling.
Western officials say more than 1,000 Wagner mercenaries have arrived since September to back Hifter’s National Army in his nine-month offensive to capture Tripoli.
The campaign, which has stalled at Tripoli’s outskirts, has drawn intervention from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt on Hifter’s behalf, while Turkey has assisted the Tripoli-based government.
Russia and Hifter’s forces have denied that mercenaries are fighting in Tripoli.
“Our fighters report that all the attacks are now being done by the Russians,” Bashagha told Bloomberg News in a phone interview.
“They are fighting as infantry in the front lines.”