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On May 7th, armed militants stormed headquarters of the Libyan Interim Government. They attacked the Corinthia Hotel in the Libyan capital Tripoli, where the Presidential Council met yesterday.
Presidential council spokeswoman Najwa Wahiba confirmed that armed men had stormed “one of the headquarters where the council meets.” She also claimed that nobody from the council was in the building at the time as the body does not work on Fridays.
Later, a senior official at the presidency council later denied that the groups had been armed or used force, playing down the incident.
“There was no kidnapping, gunfire, or an attack on me or the hotel,” the head of the presidency council’s office, Mohamed al-Mabrouk said in a video, adding that he had been in the hotel at the time of the incident.
#BREAKING
Armed groups surround the Presidential Council in Libyan Capital Tripoli.https://t.co/PzK4AXb3CT#Libya #LibyaReview pic.twitter.com/5r0CzEvAH0— Libya Review (@LibyaReview) May 7, 2021
Armed men were reportedly looking for Libya’s Foreign Minister, Najla al-Manqoush. She was repeatedly demanding the withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya. On May 3rd, she repeated these claims, speaking at a press conference in Tripoli, alongside Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Turkey is not hurrying up to fulfill such demands. Mevlut Cavusoglu claims that Turkish forces were in Libya as part of a training agreement that was reached with a previous Libya administration.
The new Libyan interim government has close ties with Ankara. Moreover, claims of Turkish leaders in Libya, as well as armed attacks on Government headquarters, demonstrate that Ankara has a free hand, pushing its interests in Libya no matter who is in power there.
Miss Brother Muammar Gaddafi yet?