This comes following a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart in Istanbul on 8 January when they urged both sides in the conflict in Libya to start observing a ceasefire from midnight on 12 January.
Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) has shot down a Turkish drone that was carrying mortar rounds in violation of the latest ceasefire between the LNA and the Government of National Accord (GNA), the LNA’s Al-Karama Operations Room said Sunday.
“An enemy Turkish drone that was carrying mortar rounds was shot down. This [the flight] was a violation of the ceasefire,” the operations room’s press office said.
Earlier in the day, the Turkish Defence Ministry said that a ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Ankara in western Libya had been generally observed.
The President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Istanbul on 8 January to discuss the situation in Libya and called on the conflicting sides to observe a ceasefire starting at midnight on 12 January and to sit down for talks.
Libya has been torn by civil war since 2011 when its leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed. The country is divided between Haftar’s Libyan National Army and the UN-backed Government of National Accord.
