BENGHAZI, Libya, Jan 4, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Libya’s military strongman Khalifa
Haftar has called on all Libyans to take up arms in response to a prospective
military intervention from Turkey aimed at shoring up the UN-backed
government in Tripoli.
The beleaguered Tripoli government, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, has been
under sustained attack since April by Haftar, who heads a rival
administration in the east backed by Turkey’s regional rivals — Saudi
Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
Turkey’s parliament on Thursday approved the deployment of troops to Libya
after it received a request for military support from Sarraj’s elected
government.
“We accept the challenge and declare jihad and a call to arms,” said
Haftar in a televised address on Friday.
He urged “all Libyans” to bear arms, “men and women, soldiers and
civilians, to defend our land and our honour”.
He said it was no longer a question of liberating Tripoli from the
militias, but of “facing a coloniser”, accusing Ankara of wanting to “regain
control of Libya”, a former province of the Ottoman Empire.
Libya has been beset by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and
killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.