Alwaght- The army general in charge of eastern Libya has threatened to confront Italian naval ships that are heading to the Libyan coast to help stop the flow of migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean.
General Khalifah Haftar has ordered naval bases to confront any vessel entering the North African country's territorial waters without military permission.
A statement released by Haftar, the head of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA), said that the command was directed to eastern bases in Benghazi as well as the capital Tripoli.
“Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, issues orders to the Libyan naval bases in Tobruk, Benghazi, Ras Lanuf and Tripoli to confront any marine unit that enters the Libyan waters without the permission of the army,” the Libyan National Army said in a statement.
The warning by Libya's eastern commander comes after the Italian parliament authorized a naval mission to help Libya's coast guard curb refugee flows and reduce the number of people arriving on Italy's coasts.
Italy has reportedly begun the mission by sending a logistics ship and patrol boat as well as mechanics to maintain equipment.
The warning also reflects broader anger in Libya over the intervention of Italy, a former colonial power that ruled Libya for the first half of the 20th century.
Italy’s government said it was sending the two ships to try to curb the flow of migrants and refugees, which has seen 600,000 people arrive in Italy in the past four years.
Italy’s prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni, said last week that the naval mission was being organized after a request from Fayez al-Sarraj, Libya’s UN-backed prime minister.
The number of migrant arrivals in Italy in July was down dramatically on the same month last year, suggesting efforts to train and better equip the Libyan coastguard could already be having an impact.
The interior ministry said 11,193 arrivals had been registered in July, compared with 23,552 in July 2016.
Arrivals for the first seven months of this year were 95,214, up 0.78% on the same period last year.
