Libyan Gov’t Bombs Turkish Ship, Says Ankara Supplying Rival Factions

Forces loyal to the internationally backed Libyan government based in Tobruk bombed a Turkish cargo ship Sunday night about 10 miles from the northeastern Libyan coast. A captain was killed and others were injured after the ship was warned not to break a blockade on the eastern port city of Derna, which fell under Islamic State (ISIS) control but is now being contested by rival jihadist groups and the Libyan government.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry was outraged by the airstrike, calling it “a contemptible attack which targeted a civilian ship in international waters, and curse those who carried it out.” The ministry also said that the ship was carrying gypsum, a main component of many forms of plaster, from Spain to Tobruk, although Mohamed Hejazi, a spokesman for Libyan government forces, said the transport’s destination was Derna, 106 miles further west.

According to a Libyan military source, the ship, a Turkish-owned, Cook Islands-chartered Tuna-1 vessel, was towed to a Tobruk terminal, but a Turkish official denies this, saying it is returning to Turkey.

The Libyan air force has made a concerted effort to keep outside resources away from Derna and the jihadist groups battling there. In January, for example, a Libyan warplane bombed a Greek oil tanker, which killed two people, citing its suspicious activity near Derna.

Relations between Tobruk and Ankara dissolved in February when Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni asserted Turkey was being dishonest with his government and sending weapons to his Islamist rivals so “the Libyan people kill each other.”

Turkey, however, adamantly denied Thinni’s statement and said its Libyan policy is to be “against any external intervention in Libya” and to “fully support the ongoing political dialogue process under U.N. mediation.”

Several Islamist factions vying for power arose in Libya after the United States failed to lead a post-conflict resolution when western militaries helped local rebels inspired by the Arab Spring overthrow longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Since then, the U.S. and United Nations have backed Thinni’s government in Tobruk, which they consider the legitimate authority in Libya, but a rival Muslim Brotherhood-led government of the new General National Congress – commonly referred to as Libyan Dawn – based in the capital Tripoli, also claims to be the legitimate government. Meanwhile, the al-Qaeda-liked Ansar al-Sharia seeks to implement sharia law throughout Libya while ISIS is in the country trying to expand its declared caliphate.

Turkey has reportedly helped Libyan Dawn by flying aircraft in and out of Dawn-controlled Mitiga air base and by sending weapons and other supplies to the Islamist group in various ways; Greek and Egyptian authorities have stopped multiple shipments of Turkish arms to Libya. Furthermore, a U.N. report found Ankara to be shipping munitions to rival Libyan factions, and Turkey is one of a few countries to host officials from the Tripoli government.

A prominent Benghazi-based activist said in December that Ansar al-Sharia receives funding from “businessmen linked by trade ties to Turkey.” Moreover, Ansar al-Sharia’s former leader, Mohamed al-Zahawi, who died in January, supposedly received medical treatment in Turkey.

Despite a lack of hard evidence, “Turkish military assistance to the Islamic factions [in Libya]” was, as one former U.S. official noted, “simply ‘assumed.’”

Libya has essentially become a failed state despite the international community backing a government there, indicating an insufficient effort to support said authority and to provide stability to a strategically important oil-producing state on the doorstep of Europe and Egypt, the latter being a necessary U.S. ally. Ankara sees this development and is exploiting chaos in Libya to further its own goals and Islamist-leaning ideology.

The Libyan case study illustrates what can result from a lack of western – particularly U.S. – resolve and strategic foresight after direct engagement and is a lesson for current and future conflicts. Furthermore, the situation in Libya, most recently exemplified by Sunday’s cargo ship bombing, shows that Turkey is not a fully trustworthy partner in the fight against the global jihad movement.