UAE sending US-manufactured warplanes to Libyan eastern forces, report says
US-made warplanes are being used in Libya in violation of the UN arms embargo on the country, TIME magazine reported Tuesday, saying they were sent by the UAE.
“At least six American-made turboprop planes were supplied to an eastern authority – the chief rival to the UN-backed government in Tripoli,” according to a report published in TIME magazine.
TIME claimed that the UAE deployed at least six “Archangel” aircraft to Libya, where Abu Dhabi – along with Russia and Egypt – backs rogue Libyan general Khalifa Haftar.
In a report published on Tuesday, TIME cited satellite images of the al-Khadim airbase – published in an IHS Jane Defence report last year in October – located in eastern Libya, as seeming evidence of the deployment of six “Archangel” aircraft, manufactured by Iomax USA.
“Th North Carolina-based company has sold 48 such planes to the UAE so far.” TIME added.
Additional investigations by TIME also revealed the presence of Russian-made cargo planes at the base which witnessed a “substantial build up” over the second half of 2016.
Iomax CEO Ron Howard, when contacted by TIME, acknowledged that aircraft manufactured by the company had been deployed in Libya.
The US state department declined to comment when contacted, said TIME.
Haftar and Al-Serraj met in Abu Dhabi last week in a covert breakthrough in the conflict, agreeing to end the fragmentation between their governments.
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