The commander of backup forces of the Libyan Army under the command of the Presidential Council, Nasser Ammar, has confirmed that many of Wagner Group mercenaries have started pulling out from the frontlines in southern Tripoli.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked on Saturday whether mercenaries known as the Wagner Group, were fighting in Libya, said that if there are Russians in Libya, they are not representing the Russian state, nor are they paid by the state.

The New Arab newspaper reported that a Russian Air Force jet had transported Russian mercenaries from a private military firm in Russia, just like Wagner Group, from Syria to Libya as per coordination between Moscow and Khalifa Haftar under the supervision of UAE and Egypt.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made an unannounced trip to Tunisia on Wednesday as regional tensions continued to escalate over the crisis in Libya.

A new wave of mercenaries from Sudan is fighting in Libya, deepening concerns that the conflict in the north African state has descended into an intractable international war that could destabilise much of the region, according to The Guardian. 

Around 500 armed Sudanese men have arrived in Libya’s Benghazi as a prelude to being deployed alongside Khalifa Haftar’s forces around Tripoli, according to London-based newspaper al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Interior Minister, Fathi Bashagha says that the Russian mercenaries supporting Haftar are leading the battle on the front lines as infantry for control of the capital.

The United States is “very concerned” about the intensification of the conflict in Libya, with a rising number of reported Russian mercenaries supporting Khalifa Haftar’s forces on the ground turning the conflict into a bloodier one, a senior State Department official told Reuters on Saturday.

The Turkish government’s possible deployment of troops to Libya may tip the balance of power in the country and could put Turkey in Russia’s crosshairs, regional experts and sources told Middle East Eye.

Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Taher Siala warned of the possibility that retired Major General Khalifa Haftar could enter Tripoli, especially after the recent Russian intervention in Libya.