Libya acquires combat drones despite U.N. embargo

Eastern Libya is moving towards rearmament after satellite imagery showed Khalifa Haftar’s forces had acquired combat drones despite the U.N. arms embargo, as reported by Reuters on April 2nd.

New combat drones in Haftar controlled territory suggest that Libya’s military balance is once again being shaped by external supply, contested enforcement and the gradual return of high end weaponry to a country that remains formally under international restrictions.

Commercial satellite imagery showed at least three drones at Al Khadim airbase, around 100 kilometres east of Benghazi, between late April and December 2025. Weapons specialists who reviewed the images said one aircraft was most likely a Chinese made Feilong-1 surveillance and strike drone, while two others appeared to be Turkish made Bayraktar TB2s.

Ground control equipment was also visible, suggesting the aircraft were not merely present, but integrated into an operating system. What remains unclear is who supplied them, when exactly they arrived, and who is flying them. Neither Haftar’s Libyan National Army, nor the governments of China and Turkey, nor the manufacturers released any statement.

Libya’s 2014–2020 war turned the country into Africa’s first major theatre for drone combat, with foreign powers backing rival sides and shaping the battlefield from above.

The 2020 ceasefire froze that confrontation, but it did not remove the deeper competition over armed capability. Analysts see evidence both eastern and western authorities are trying to strengthen their air power again.

The immediate political consequence is that the drones could reinforce Haftar’s hold over eastern and much of southern Libya, including major oil producing areas, while strengthening his position in any future negotiations over a unified government.

Libyan analyst Anas El Gomati stated that the more pressing question may now be operational rather than symbolic, who is actually running these systems, given that Haftar’s forces are not known to possess the technical expertise required to operate them independently.

The country’s internal balance of power is still being shaped by external hands, even in periods officially described as post-war.

Reuters, maghrebi.org