Deaths and reduced salaries: Crises surround Erdogan’s mercenaries in Libya

Sarah Rashad

The issue of Syrian mercenaries in Libya has resurfaced after Turkey reduced the salaries of the Syrians who work alongside the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) due to their large number.

According to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Ankara was forced to reduce salaries after increasing the number of Syrian mercenaries than had previously been determined.

The observatory questioned why there are so many mercenaries, noting that about 4,750 recruits arrived in Tripoli, while training camps on the Turkish-Syrian border received only 1,900 recruits.

This means that about three times as many arrived in Tripoli without training. The observatory explained that the Syrian factions loyal to Turkey have incurred huge losses so far, with the death toll having increased to 129 mercenaries.

Turkish-backed factions, including the Mu’tasim Division, Sultan Murad Division, Northern Falcons Brigade and Hamza Division, witnessed losses during clashes in Tripoli, Misrata and other areas of Libya.

The talk of salary reductions coincides with the statements of Libyan GNA Minister of Economy Ali al-Isawi, who said in mid-March that his government decided to reduce its budget by a third due to stopping oil production in the country’s eastern oil fields and the low global oil prices due to the corona crisis, which negatively affected the GNA’s revenues.

Analysts previously told the Reference that stopping Libyan oil production would affect the ability of the GNA to pay the salaries of mercenaries, which means that the impact on the salaries of militias operating in Syria becomes an important question, given that Turkey has resorted to reducing salaries and the GNA is finding difficulty paying.

Libyan politician Muhammad al-Zubaidi told the Reference that the pro-GNA militias have recently been going through a stormy crisis due to the high number of deaths among them, especially with the decrease in salaries, which is why they went to Libya. He explained that when a mercenary gets paid less than desired, then he gets frustrated and sometimes quits or falls short of his task.

Zubaidi added that reports coming from Libya indicate that some of these mercenaries have already quit and fled to southern Europe.

The card of Syrian mercenaries has proved its failure, or at least its ineffectiveness in conducting battles, Zubaidi stressed, pointing out that the GNA has made no progress since being joined by the Syrian militias.

He expected that the coming period will witness a further decline in the impact of these mercenaries, as Ankara will be forced to reduce their salaries yet again in light of the crises that the Turkish economy is experiencing.