The Turkish newspaper, Daily Sabah, said Russian Wagner Group – a private military contractor linked to the Kremlin – is preparing to send 300 Syrian mercenaries to join Khalifa Haftar’s forces in eastern Libya.

The Libyan Army’s Volcano of Rage Operation said it had monitored over the last two days warplanes for pro-Haftar Russian Wagner Group flying over Sirte and Tamenhent, in violation of 5+5 Joint Military Commission understandings and the ceasefire signed in Geneva last October.

The Italian Defense Minister, Lorenzo Guerini, said Libya’s ceasefire is fragile and threatened by foreign mercenaries and militias despite the developments achieved on the political level and the endorsement of the Government of National Unity that is now governing all of the country.

First Deputy Chairman of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, stressed the need for all mercenaries to leave Libya.

European Council President Charles Michel has called for the withdrawal of all foreign fighters from Libya. He also voiced support for the unity government which hoped to bring together rival factions.

Buried in a new report by the United Nations Panel of Experts on Libya comes disturbing news about recent transfers of internationally banned antipersonnel landmines. The report shows that antipersonnel mines manufactured in Russia were likely brought into Libya in the 2018-2019 despite an arms embargo.

Libya’s new unity government on Thursday called for the “immediate” withdrawal of all foreign mercenaries, in a call backed by the visiting top diplomats of France, Germany, and Italy.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “remains deeply concerned” that “foreign elements” continue to operate in Libya, he wrote in a report to the Security Council.

The Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, Ned Price reported today that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Libyan Government of National Unity prime minister Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba.

After a series of leaks to the international media, a report on Libya by a panel of United Nations experts has been published this week.