(Zaman Al Wasl, MEE)- The opposition Syrian Interim Government denied it would be sending any troops to Libya amid reports confirm the beginning of training and deployment.
"We categorically deny sending any of our forces and military formations to Libya, and our priority in the Syrian National Army is to protect our Syrian people from the regime's militias and its Russian and Iranian supporters," it said in a statement.
A well-informed source told Zaman al-Wasl on Tuesday that hundreds of Turkish-backed Syrian rebels will be deployed in Libya along with Turkish forces as Ankara presses to implement a military cooperation agreement with the National Accord Government in Tripoli reached last month.
Senior officers of the Turkish intelligence met with commanders of the Syrian National Army in the eastern countryside of Aleppo on Sunday where they agreed to open a recruitment office.
The Turkish intelligence offered a number of incentives to bring in the largest possible number from the National Army to register, including a monthly salary estimated at $3,000 for officers and $2,000 for other elements, in addition to providing weapons and ammunition as well as food, in exchange for at least a three-month combat mission in the Libyan territory.
Sultan Murad and Al-Mu'tasim, key SNA factions, have opened the door for voluntary registration, according to the source.
Major. Yusef Hammoud, spokesman of the Defence Ministry in the Interim Government told Aki news agency that the mission of the National Army is to stay in Syria to fight against the regime and Russia and their militias.
The Syrian National Army is an umbrella group in northern Syria consisting of an assortment of rebel forces. Many of the group’s factions, made up largely of Syrian Arab fighters, had already fought at Turkey’s behest in two previous military operations over the past three years,
This move coincides with the deadliest military operation in Idlib by Russian-backed regime forces that left 100 people dead and more than 130,000 people displaced.
A Turkish source told MEE that the Sultan Murad Division, an armed group made up of Syrian Turkmen fighters, is among the groups set to be sent to North Africa.
The Syrian opposition source said that the Suqour al-Sham Brigades, a faction founded to fight Syrian government forces early in Syria's war, had already accepted the plan and transferred some of its forces to Turkey ahead of deployment.
Faylaq al-Sham, a rebel group with close ties to Ankara, is expected to take the lead due to its members’ previous partnership with Libyan forces.
"Tripoli-based forces previously sent weapons and ammunition to help Syrian rebels in 2011. They even sent some commanders to help them," the Syrian source said.
However, one source told MEE that some fighters arrived in Libya three days ago where they were undergoing training at a closed camp.
"One day after their arrival, they were allowed to use their phones to speak with their families," the source said.
"[They were sent to] Tripoli at the request of a Turkish military commander, who was transferred by Ankara from Syria to Libya," he added.
Meanwhile, an activist in the Syrian city of Afrin, some 20 km from the Turkish border, told MME that: "dozens of fighters who previously served in Eastern Ghouta were recently transferred from the city of Jarabulus to Afrin in preparation for being transferred to Libya."
"Most of the fighters belong to the Mutasim Brigade, the Sultan Murad Brigade, the Hamza Brigade, and Ahrar Sharqiya," he said.
"Each fighter [will] receive $300 upon signing the contract in Syria, and will receive $2,000 per month in Libya."
Both Libya and Syria have been embroiled in conflicts since 2011, after uprisings against Muammar Gaddafi and Bashar al-Assad broke out.
In Libya, Nato-backed fighters toppled Gaddafi, though unrest has continued since, with eastern commander Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) forces facing off against the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) in recent years.
In Syria, meanwhile, Assad has, with Russian and Iranian support, rolled back rebel control into a pocket of the country’s northwest.
Turkish-backed groups hold stretches of Aleppo province, and have in recent months been fighting Kurdish forces in the northeast at Ankara’s behest, rather than Assad’s troops.
Pro-Syrian government forces have been staging a ferocious offensive against northwestern Idlib province, the opposition's last redoubt, in recent days.
The United Nations said on Friday that 235,000 civilians in Idlib had fled their homes to escape shelling by Assad's forces over the past two weeks.
Many of the groups that could be sent to Libya on behalf of Turkey have controversial reputations, and have been accused of war crimes against Kurdish civilians. Amnesty International has accused some Turkey-backed groups of summary executions and abductions.
The UN said it believed a faction of the rebel Syrian National Army was responsible for the killing of Hervin Khalaf, a Kurdish politician who was reportedly dragged from her car and shot alongside other civilians.
On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said legislation to send troops to Libya was being prepared after a formal request for assistance had been made by the UN-recognised GNA.
The Turkish parliament is expected to vote on the deployment on 8 or 9 January, and its passage should be a formality.
Erdogan travelled to Tunisia on Wednesday for consultations, meeting his Tunisian counterpart Kais Saied. Erdogan said Tunisia had agreed to help support the GNA, however the Tunisians have denied such a stance has been taken.
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