Haftar says Russia is working on lifting UN weapons embargo against Libya
The head of the Operation Dignity forces, Khalifa Haftar has claimed that Russia is going to seek to end an arms embargo against Libya and could supply weapons to his Operation Dignity, which supports a rival administration to the UN-backed unity government based in the east – the House of Representatives (HoR).
Asked by Italy’s Corriere della Sera on Tuesday whether he was promised arms during a recent visit to Russia, Haftar said Moscow had told him weapons “can arrive only once the (UN) embargo ends”.
But he was assured that “Putin will undertake to revoke it,” he said in the interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera.
The Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, is recognised by the international community.
But Haftar, the controversial head of the so-called Libyan National Army, supports a parallel authority, based in eastern Libya near the border with Egypt, that controls much of the country’s oil production.
The bitter divisions in the country are matched by those among the powers pushing for democracy in the conflict-torn country.
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