The New York Times reported Libyan officers as saying that with the fate of its military bases in Syria uncertain, Russia has been sending cargo planes in recent days to Libya, where it also maintains a military foothold in the Middle East.
A military official at Al-Khadim air base in eastern Libya said that a half-dozen Russian planes — some coming from Russia and some from Syria — had arrived carrying military equipment since December 8, when Syrian rebels overthrew Russia’s ally, Bashar Al-Assad.
The nature of their cargo could not be confirmed independently, but publicly available flight records show heavier than usual traffic in the past week between Russia or Belarus and Libya’s east, which is controlled by a Kremlin-backed military leader.
At least four Russian Il-76 cargo planes have made trips from Moscow or Minsk to Benghazi, in eastern Libya, and back since last Thursday.
A report published on Thursday by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project said that the flights to Libya were “likely setting conditions for Russia to mitigate or replace its reliance on its Syrian bases by upgrading Russian positions in Libya.”
The Libyan officer said the Russian flights arrived with little notice: The air base where they landed was informed only when they were already in the air. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military information.
In addition, the day the Syrian rebels seized Damascus, the capital, several civilian planes flying from Damascus landed in Benghazi, the de facto capital of eastern Libya, the officer said.
