German Army: Turkey prevented us from inspecting ship suspected of carrying weapons to Libya

Reuters quoted a German military spokesman as saying that soldiers from the frigate "Hamburg", boarded the Turkish ship "Rosalina-A" during the night, but they were forced not to carry out inspections, and withdrew after Turkey lodged a protest for the European mission.

This comes after Turkey confirmed what Germany said earlier today that it had prevented German forces operating as part of a European Union military mission from conducting a full inspection of a Turkish cargo ship suspected of transporting weapons to Libya.

The frigate was operating in the Mediterranean as part of the European Union's "IRENI" mission, which aims to prevent weapons from reaching the warring groups in Libya.

The container ship left the Turkish port of Gemlik near the city of Bursa last week, and was last seen off Athens heading southwest towards Libya, according to Refinitiv Icon data.

Germany is participating in a European operation under the umbrella of the United Nations to monitor the implementation of the UN ban on arms exports to Libya.

In July 2020, the European Union called on Turkey to stop interfering in Libya, and to respect its commitment to the arms embargo imposed on Libya by the United Nations, years ago.

Ankara supports the Fayez al-Sarraj government by arming groups that control the Libyan capital, Tripoli, in addition to transferring weapons and thousands of mercenaries from Syria to fight against the Libyan National Army.

J.O