Former members of the Irish Defence Forces have reportedly been providing military training to a ‘warlord’ in Libya.

Khalifa Haftar is a challenger to the country’s official Government based in Tripoli that is recognised by the United Nations.

He leads the Libyan National Army and controls much of Libya’s east where he is supported by Wagner mercenaries from Russia, Egypt and the UAE.

On The Pat Kenny Show today, The Irish Times journalist Naomi O’Leary said an Offaly-based company called Irish Training Solutions have been providing military training to Mr Haftar’s forces on the ground in Libya for over a year.

UN embargo

Ms O’Leary said the company has been recruiting outgoing defence forces members in Ireland for the training, which is in breach of a UN arms embargo in place for Libya.

“In 2011, the UN Security Council agreed to an embargo on Libya, a total ban on furnishing weapons as well as any military training to forces in Libya,” she said.

“They did that to try and stop the country being torn apart by rival factions after the fall of Gaddafi.

“That’s the issue; training is banned by this UN arms embargo, military training, and it’s also banned by EU sanctions too.”

Khalifa Haftar. Image: Imago / Alamy Stock Photo

Ms O’Leary said Irish personnel are essentially training part of Haftar’s army “to become a special operations force”.

“People familiar with the training say they are training soldiers in sniping skills, machine gun support, armed entry of buildings and things like that,” she said.

“They were hired on nine-month contracts, according to contracts I’ve seen, and the rate of pay was €300 a day.

“They were flown out, according to travel records, via Turkey and Spain out into Benghazi which is Haftar-controlled territory.

She said The Irish Times investigation found that former members of the elite Army Ranger Wing were hires as well as “as one member who flew out and became a trainer that had not yet been discharged from the Defence Forces at the time”.

Reaction in Ireland

Ms O’Leary said this hasn’t gone down well in Ireland.

“It was discovered by the Defence Forces and created uproar internally, prompting a Garda investigation and other things,” she said.

“It’s quite serious for the Defence Forces for there to be personnel over in Libya especially when they are wearing badges, for example, photos show Irish tri-colour patches on their uniform along with the Irish Training Solutions logo.”

Wagner Group mercenaries. Image: UPI / Alamy Stock Photo

Ms O’Leary said Irish Training Solutions members have also come under fire from Wagner mercenaries while out in Libya.

“On two occasions, according to people who were there and familiar with the situation, Wagner forces actually shot towards the Irish Training Solutions trainers on two occasions.

“On the second occasion, one of the trainers of Irish Training Solutions returned fire – according to what I’m told by my sources.

“This illustrates the risk for people in volatile situations like this, in complex conflicts, especially when Ireland has an official policy of neutrality.”

Financials

Ms O’Leary said the Irish company’s financial accounts make for interesting reading.

“Last year they had revenue of about €1m with a profit of about €700,000,” she said.

“This was a sudden increase from the previous year when their profit was about €1,000.

“My understanding, according to people familiar with the arrangements, the value of providing this training service was multi-million contracts.”

Ms O’Leary said the Irish Training Solutions contract in Libya “was renewed for 2024 again at a multi-million figure”.

Main image: Destruction in Sirt, Libya during the country's civil war in 2015. Image: Paul Conroy / Alamy Stock Photo