Misratan residents travelling on the coastal road to Tripoli were targeted at ad hoc checkpoints last week. In its statement denying participation in the Gasr Garabulli clashes, the Misrata Municipal Council warned its citizens of the growing risk of being kidnapped based on Misratan identity. Many easterners blame Misrata for the lingering violence in Benghazi because some of its hardliners have facilitated the shipment of weapons and ammunition to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Benghazi opponents. There have even been eastern calls for the Libyan National Army (LNA) to target Misrata next.

This animosity is not just reserved for Misrata but also for Turkey. The latter — along with Qatar — have been accused of providing material support to hardline Islamists, and especially those in Misrata, which has fuelled the conflict. Ankara also provides political support for Misrata’s leaders. In April 2016, it sent a congratulatory note to Abdurrahman Swehli when he became the head of the High State Council and addressed him as ‘my brother’. Consequently, Turkish interests have come under threat in the east where anti-Misrata sentiment is on the rise.

On 9 July, for example, a Turkish vessel was stopped in Tobruk’s port and was raided on suspicion of fuel smuggling. Several Turkish-flagged ships have previously been implicated in fuel smuggling but mainly in the west near Zuwara. Tobruk’s port director insisted that the vessel was not involved in smuggling and that it had been raided by the LNA without his permission.

Qatar is currently under significant pressure because of the ongoing Gulf crisis, so Haftar’s opponents will increasing rely on Turkey for external support in order to balance the Emirati and Egyptian support for Haftar. After the latter’s successes in Benghazi, the Misratan political leader Abdurrahman Swehli travelled to Ankara on 14 July to meet Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. Erdoğan and other Turkish officials reportedly voiced their support for the political agreement of 2015. Swehli called on Turkey to play a larger role in Libya and some observers saw this as an overt call for Ankara to support Libya’s Islamist groups as their political fortunes come under greater threat.

This is an article from our weekly Libya Politics and Security publication.