30% Salary Raise for Mercenary Fighters in Libya, Qatar-Turkey Agree

Turkish Defence Minister, Hulusi Akar, and his Qatari counterpart Khaled Al-Attiyah, arrived on Monday in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

The Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez Al-Sarraj, received the Defence Ministers, and their accompanying delegations with his Deputy, Ahmed Maiteeq, and Undersecretary of the Defence Ministry, Salah Al-Deen Al-Namroush.

The meeting between Al-Sarraj and the Defence Ministers touched on the areas of military and security cooperation, and programs for building the security and defence capabilities of the GNA.

But behind the scenes, Libya Review sources revealed the GNA’s request to strengthen the military support provided by Turkey and Qatar to its security forces.

The sources confirmed that the talks that took place between Al-Sarraj, Akar, and Al-Attiyah resulted in a tripartite agreement to increase military support for the Tripoli-based government. It is believed that at the request of Al-Namroush, it was agreed to pay a 30% increase in the salaries of Syrian fighters sent by Turkey. This comes amid recent unrest on social media, concerning lack of payment by Ankara to these fighters.

Observers said that the reason for Al-Namroush’s request was to control the anger of the Syrian mercenaries, before the matter turns into a widespread rebellion and they refuse to fight.