Terrorists, Arrested in Libya, Admit Qatar and Turkey Supported Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

TRIPOLI- Libyan security sources have revealed that investigations with multi-national terrorists arrested in several Libyan areas uncovered that Turkey and Qatar are involved in supporting Daesh and al-Qaeda terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq as well as other extremist groups like Ansar al-Sharia, and al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Combat Group operating in Libya.

Talking to the Libyan media, the security sources said that most of the arrested terrorists were from Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Palestine besides others from Libya. They came to Libya across Turkey and were trained in some Libyan areas with Qatari funding as to be sent later to Syria and Iraq to fight along with the terrorist groups there.

The investigations, the sources added, uncovered Qatar’s support for an integrated network of terrorist groups extending from Egypt, to Libya through providing members of these groups with Libyan, Syrian and Lebanese passports and with necessary financial support. Turkey also played a role in facilitating the training and arming of these terrorists as to send them to Syria and Iraq. The investigations also revealed that some recruitment networks in Tunisia, Algeria and Libya gather the terrorists and train them in militia camps in different parts of Libya in preparation to send them to join the armed terrorist organizations in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya.

According to the sources, some 50 terrorists were arrested in different districts of the Libyan city of Ajdabia to the west of Benghazi. Investigations unveiled that the terrorists intended to immigrate to Italy via Benghazi, the battleground of the fight between the Libyan army and extremist groups over the past three months.

Information obtained by security sources from the terrorists arrested in eastern Libya has helped the security body draw a map for the terrorist groups and control their moves. A large number of Libyan and foreign terrorists are now in the jails of the Libyan army, the sources said.

Four years ago, the Western intervention in Libya through NATO strikes destroyed the country and caused the rise of many extremist terrorist groups which aimed to divide Libya, steal its resources and make it a base for sending terrorists to Syria and Iraq.

Hamda Mustafa