Written question asked by Emily Thornberry (Labour) on Wednesday, 26 February 2020, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 2 March 2020. It was answered by James Cleverly (Conservative) on Thursday, 5 March 2020 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Libya: Armed Conflict

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his (a) Turkish counterpart and (b) the UN on reports that two thousand Syrian rebel fighters have been deployed to Libya as part of Turkey’s intervention in the conflict in that region.

Answer: We are aware of reports of foreign fighters being transferred from Syria to Libya. The UK and Turkey were amongst the participants in the 19 January Berlin conference on Libya. The conclusions of the Berlin conference were endorsed in UN Security Council Resolution 2510. This demands all UN Member States not to intervene in the conflict, and fully to comply with the UN arms embargo, including by withdrawing of all armed mercenary personnel. We have made clear to all of the participants in the Berlin Conference that we expect them to live up to the commitments they made there, to respect international law, and to support the United Nations in facilitating a Libyan-led and Libyan-owned inclusive political process to bring an end to the conflict.

Secondary information