Tripoli

The regimented police state that renegade Libyan general Khalifa Haftar is attempting to build is both "more puritanical and more lawless than" that of the country's deposed longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi, according to a recently published investigation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Feb. 20 met with Libya's Fayez al-Sarraj, the prime minister of U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).

Erdoğan received Sarraj in the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. The leaders held a closed-door meeting.

Two Libyan families whose members were extrajudicially killed and tortured by the forces of Khalifa Haftar, who is waging a rebellion against the U.N.-recognized government Tripoli, took legal action against the warlord in U.S. courts on Feb. 18. 

Turkey will continue to support the Government of Fayez al-Sarraj's national agreement in Libya if the reach a settlement in the North African country fails. This was stated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who spoke to his party members in parliament, TASS reported.

Crude oil prices were trading with gains on Feb. 19 as a result of growing supply concern in Libya and with U.S. sanctions on a subsidiary of Russian oil firm Rosneft.

Following an attack on the Port of Tripoli, Libya's UN-recognized government is withdrawing from the UN-hosted military committee talks in Geneva until a determined stance is taken against the violations by warlord Khalifa Haftar's forces.
The government denied the presence of any Turkish ship at Tripoli's port which was bombed by militias of Haftar on Feb. 18.

The United Nations tried to salvage talks over a ceasefire for Libya on Feb. 19 after the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) said it was pulling out after a single day to protest against the shelling of the capital's port.

Talks on confidence building measures (CBMs) between Greek and Turkish military and diplomatic delegations began on Monday under the shadow of Ankara's apparent intention to ignore the existence of certain islands, including Crete, and to move ahead with an eye on exploratory drilling in maritime areas that belong to Greece.

Flights to Libya's only civil airport were halted amid attacks by militias loyal to renegade Libyan general Khalifa Haftar on Feb. 17.

In a statement, management of the Mitiga Airport in the Libyan capital Tripoli said the airport was targeted during a Libyan Airlines' plane's take off.

Athens is bracing for the United Nations' Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea to post the geographical coordinates outlined in the maritime border agreement signed by Turkey and the Tripoli-based government in Libya on November 29, 2019.