Neostrategy.gr: US and Türkiye Build a Unified Army for Divided Libya
By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
The United States and Türkiye have begun joint military exercises in Libya aimed at merging the country's two rival armed forces into a single national army, Greek defence outlet Neostrategy.gr reported on April 17.
The drills took place in Sirte, under the supervision of AFRICOM Deputy Commander General John Brennan, who had previously met separately with eastern commander Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi and with Abdulsalam al-Zoubi, deputy defence minister of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity. Units from both factions participated. Türkiye provided drones; Germany also took part. Italy, Egypt, the UK, France, and Chad attended as observers.
A joint military team of six officers has since been established, a first for a conflict that has kept Libya split since the 2011 Arab Spring.
Washington is offering both sides an incentive: exemptions from the UN arms embargo, contingent on agreeing to a unified command structure. The broader goal is to reduce both factions' dependence on Russian and Belarusian weapons and cut Moscow's supply corridor into Africa. In 2024, Russia transferred advanced air defence systems from its Syrian bases to areas under Haftar's control. Putin met with Haftar in 2025.
Türkiye's role in the Sirte exercises did not emerge in isolation. Ankara's parliament voted in December 2025 to extend its military mandate in Libya for an additional two years, as previously reported by Bosphorus News, keeping Turkish forces legally present through early 2028. That mandate extension was followed in February 2026 by a military industrialisation agreement between Tripoli and a Turkish defence firm, covering factory rehabilitation and the localisation of maintenance services, as detailed in our coverage. Abdulsalam al-Zoubi, the same deputy defence minister present at the Sirte exercises, signed that agreement following his January 2026 visit to Ankara.
The pattern of engagement extends to the water. A Turkish Navy frigate completed a joint training program with Libyan naval cadets at Al Khums in December 2025, as examined in our report, signalling that Ankara's military cooperation with Tripoli spans land, air, and sea.
Libya's energy reserves are a central driver of the US push. Oil production has reportedly reached its highest level in a decade, at 1.43 million barrels per day, and Chevron and ExxonMobil are positioned for major upstream deals. Rare earth elements, uranium, and potentially lithium and cobalt have also drawn Washington's attention.
The key figure coordinating the effort is Massad Boulos, Trump's special envoy for Africa, who has been running intensive contacts across the Libya–Italy–Türkiye triangle. Boulos is also reported to be advancing a four-way maritime framework involving Greece, Türkiye, Egypt, and Libya, designed to clear the legal ground for American energy companies to operate across Eastern Mediterranean fields.
Greece, which has direct strategic interests in Libya, has remained on the sidelines throughout.
***Source: Neostrategy.gr — translated and adapted by Bosphorus News.