LNA claims it has been attacked by Turkish UAVs

The Libyan National Army (LNA) has claimed that Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being used to carry out attacks against the forces it has deployed to capture Tripoli from forces aligned with the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

The Bayraktar TB2 is being produced for Qatari and Ukrainian export orders, but there is no evidence as yet that they are being used in Libya. (Baykar Makina )

The claim was made in a 12 May briefing by LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari. “The new change that we noticed recently after we shot down the enemy fighters – and we have destroyed some of them on the ground – [was that] the enemy has begun to use Turkish-made unmanned drones to attack locations under the control of our forces,” he said according to the English translator at the event.

The two Mirage F1 fighters that were operated from Misratah Air Base by GNA-aligned forces were apparently shot down or crashed during the recent fighting around Tripoli.

Mismari added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was “now putting forward his technology” to support his Libyan allies so that he does not lose a “very valuable financial base”. The LNA did not offer any evidence to show that Turkish UAVs are operating in Libya.

Photographs subsequently circulated on pro-LNA social media channels showing wreckage that was said to have come from a UAV that was shot down before it could carry out a missile strike. It was unclear what the wreckage was from, but it had a torque measurement in pounds, suggesting it may have been of US origin.