On Tuesday, U.S. military officials said Russian military aircraft had been deployed in Libya to support Russian mercenaries fighting the Eastern Forces, raising concerns regarding a new escalation in the conflict.
The United States Africa Command said in a statement it posted on its website and Twitter:
“Russian military aircraft are likely to provide close air support and offensive fire,”
In what the United Nations described as a huge inflow of weapons and fighters in breach of an arms embargo, the Libyan civil war has drawn regional and global forces.
The East-based Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army is supported by Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which launched an offensive last year to seize the capital Tripoli.
But in recent weeks Haftar has been driven back from its south base in southern Tripoli and some other parts of the Northwest by the internationally recognized Government of National Accord.
The U.S. was less prominent in the Libyan war than at an earlier stage in which NATO had assisted rebels to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, the autocratic ruler of the country.
The statement said that after transiting through Syria, the aircraft had arrived from an airbase in Russia, where they were repainted to hide their Russian roots.
On Saturday, after withdrawing from the frontlines in Tripoli, Russian fighters in Libya were flown out of a town south of Tripoli by their Libyan allies, the town’s mayor said.
Libya’s National Army has denied that any foreigners are fighting with them, but this month the United Nations said that the Russian private military contractor, Wagner Group had up to 1,200 people in Libya.
The Panthera Post 