More than 1000 Russian and Syrian mercenaries in Libya have pulled back from the front lines after a Turkish military intervention helped block an assault on the capital
.The mercenaries with the Wagner company, a Russian military group headed by a confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, descended on the city of Bani Walid as they and Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army withdrew from Tripoli's suburbs over the past few days, the city's mayor Salem Alaywan said in a phone interview.
Fighters of Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord fire at the forces of the led by Khalifa Haftar in southern Tripoli in March.Haftar had seemed poised to make inroads into Tripoli before Turkey escalated its military intervention in January, helping the government regain swathes of territory.
Both sides have relied heavily on mercenaries. In January, Turkey began sending thousands of Syrian militiamen to support the government in Tripoli and Haftar is supported by Syrian and Sudanese fighters. The Tripoli-based government's Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha told Bloomberg that Haftar had received a new fleet of Soviet-era jets from a Russian-controlled base in Syria.The reason behind the mercenaries' withdrawal was not immediately clear. UN acting envoy to Libya Stephanie Williams last week said the yearlong conflict could further escalate as both sides' foreign backers doubled down on military support.
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