On 21 April, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) published a report documenting the ongoing deployment of Syrian mercenaries across Libya, which undermines the efforts of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC) to remove all foreign forces and mercenaries from the country. According to the latest count, there are currently up to 5,000 Syrian fighters in Libya today, with the latest batch arriving in December 2022. Based on testimonies gathered by STJ, the report traces the sources of the deployments, from the Turkish-backed “Syrian National Army” (SNA) recruits sent to support the Government of National Accord (GNA) in 2019, to the fighters recruited by Russia from areas held by the Syrian Government to back the Libyan National Army (LNA) and its Commander Khalifa Haftar against the GNA. The report also reveals several violations committed by some of the mercenary factions, including the recruitment of child soldiers and smuggling members of the Islamic State group (IS) from Syria to Libya, as well as drug and human trafficking.
Read the full report here.