Spain halts military shipment to Benghazi

French and Italian media have reported that Spain’s Civil Guard intercepted around ten military vessels bound for Benghazi last August in the port of Ceuta, the Spanish enclave located on the northern coast of Africa.

According to France’s public radio, which cited several Italian newspapers, the Spanish authorities seized the vessels — including multiple patrol boats — under the United Nations arms embargo on Libya, which has remained in place since 2011.

The reports indicated that all the boats were manufactured in shipyards in Dubai and were reportedly destined for Benghazi, where they were to be handed over to forces affiliated with the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, as part of efforts to control migration routes in the Mediterranean Sea.

The French broadcaster described the interception as “exceptional”, noting that although the United Arab Emirates regularly transfers military equipment to Libya, most deliveries reach their recipients without incident. It added that such repeated breaches of the arms embargo indirectly serve the interests of several European countries, which seek to limit the flow of migrants departing from North Africa towards their shores.

All intercepted boats reportedly carried the mark “TBZ”, referring to the Tariq Bin Ziyad Brigade, commanded by Saddam Haftar, the son of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The brigade has been accused by the United Nations of serious human rights violations against migrants, while at the same time being entrusted by the European Union with monitoring parts of the migration routes across eastern Libya.

As part of its wider migration policy, the EU has supplied a number of patrol boats to authorities in Tripoli to intercept vessels attempting to cross the Mediterranean towards Greece, Malta, or Italy.

So far, neither the Spanish government nor the European Union has issued an official statement on the incident. However, diplomatic sources quoted by the Italian press suggested that Madrid chose to handle the matter discreetly to avoid political tension with authorities in eastern Libya.