The Libyan Minister of Transportation, Mohammed Al-Shahoubi, has signed an agreement with the Libyan Chief of General Staff, Mohammed Al-Haddad, to allocate an area of four acres (plus 11th and 12th terminals) of Al-Khums naval base to be added to the civilian port. The signing was supervised by the Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Dbeibah refuted at the signing ceremony the news about renting Al-Khums port to any foreign country, reiterating that the Government of National Unity would never “let go of an inch of Libyan land.”
Last week, the spokesman for Libya’s Government of National Unity Mohammed Hammouda denied reports of using Al-Khums port as a foreign naval base, refuting discussions of renting the port to any foreign party.
A number of locals took to the streets early in August in Al-Khums to protest a government decision to expand a naval base inside the city’s port.
Last week, an X platform page called “Sanayi ve Savunma” said Türkiye had leased Al-Khums port for 99 years and a Turkish delegation headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would sign the deal in Tripoli, without specifying the time of the signing. The rumor was denied by the Libyan government.
The X page said Al-Khums port was not for companies but for a Turkish Naval Forces and Land Forces base, adding that Turkish Armed Forces would establish a military base to protect Turkish territorial waters, and at the same time ensure the safety of commercial ships.
