Air strikes on the Al Vatyya airbase in Libya

1 Libya

The ‘TASS’ news agency reported while citing a Libyan military source that on the Sunday night, the air force of the LNA, commanded by the Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, attacked the strategically important air base of Al Vatyya, 100 km to the south-west from Tripoli. It was reported that the Turkish AA missile systems ‘Hawk’, radars, and EW systems ‘KORAL’, deployed on the air base, were destroyed. The source of ‘TASS’ mentioned that the air raids were carried out after the Turkish Minister of National Defense, Hulusi Akar, and the head of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, Yashar Guler, left Libya from their visit by an the invitation of the Government of National Accord. The source of TASS added that it is possible that as a result of the air attacks — there may be dead and wounded Turkish servicemen.

2 Libya — Russia

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Vershinin, stated that during the consideration of the location for the Russian embassy between the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, after its return to Libya — Russia will firstly consider the matter of the security. “Our embassy in Tunisia has been working in Libya for a long time — it still continues to work” — explained Sergey Vershinin. He underlined that the issue of the security will be important when the embassy returns to Libya. Earlier on 3rd of July, in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, during a meeting with Akila Saleh, the speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives — the elected permanent parliament in the east of Lybia — announced that Russia had decided to resume the work of the embassy in Libya.

3 Russia — Libya — Turkey

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the special representative of the Russian President for the Middle East and African countries, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Mikhail Bogdanov, discussed the situation in Libya, in Moscow, with the Turkish ambassador to Russian, Mehmet Samsar. «The main attention was paid to the emerging military-political situation in Libya. We agreed on the need to consolidate the international efforts in order to turn the inter-Libyan conflict to the negotiated settlement under the UN flag, in accordance with the decisions of the Berlin Summit on Libya from 19th of January, 2020, and the UNSC resolution number 25-10» — the ministry stated.

4 Israel

The IDF press service reported that on Sunday the Israeli fighter jets and helicopters carried out airstrikes on the Hamas military facilities in the north of the Gaza Strip, in response to the launch of 3 missiles at the Israeli territory. «During the air-attack, the Hamas infrastructure, used for the underground activities, was damaged» — the report specified. Earlier on Sunday the Palestinian radicals fired 3 missiles from the Gaza Strip at Israel. 1 of them was intercepted by the Israeli air defense system, the IDF press service specified. According to the radio-station ‘KAN’ — there were no reports of the injuries and damage after the missile attack.

5 Iraq

The ‘Al Arabiya’ TV reported that a rocket fell on the territory of the Baghdad International Airport — it didn’t explode upon hitting the ground. It was noted that a rocket strike was carried out on the part of the airport in which the American troops are being stationed. It is currently unknown who is behind the rocket attack. Earlier on Sunday night, the US Embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone was attacked with rockets as well. Some of the rockets were intercepted by AA missile systems ‘Patriot’. Several rockets fell near the Green Zone. No damage was reported.

6 India — China

The NDTV reported that India and China have pulled back their troops from the disputed territories on the border line. «The mutual withdrawal of the Indian and Chinese forces took place. The withdrawal is most likely limited to the Galvan river valley. A buffer zone has been created between the Indian and Chinese forces. We will need to wait and see if this separation is solid and real» — the NDTV quoted their source. The parties also deconstructed their temporary military structures, built in the border zone, and they moved away from the line of actual control that separates India and China. The withdrawal of troops took place in accordance with the agreement of 30th of June, during the consultations between the two parties. The Indian Foreign Ministry stated that India and China will continue the military and diplomatic consultations in order to ensure a complete and lasting restoration of peace in the border areas. During a telephone conversation between the Indian National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, the parties agreed to not violate the status quo on the control line in order to prevent such incidents in the border zone. And also — to complete the process of withdrawal of the troops on the contact line as soon as possible.