The Irish government announced the opening of an investigation into the involvement of former Irish soldiers in training forces affiliated with Khalifa Haftar, saying this constitutes a violation of the military training ban imposed by the United Nations on Libya.
This came following a report published by the Irish newspaper “The Irish Times”, which confirmed during an investigation it conducted that there was an Irish company using former Irish soldiers to train the military forces of Khalifa Haftar’s 166th Infantry Brigade, with a contract worth millions of euros during the years 2023 and 2024.
The investigation also revealed that the salaries of Irish training soldiers were transferred to a company based in Dubai called “SOF Training” to avoid Irish attempts to inspect the company’s activity.
According to the Irish newspaper, the training, which was conducted by a company called Irish Training Solutions, was intended for the 166th Infantry Brigade of the General Command, using former Irish soldiers to train military forces in close-range combat, home attacks, and drug smuggling raids, as well as the use of firearms and artillery, reconnaissance and medical training.
The story began when a soldier who participated in these military exercises published live photos of the exercises that took place in Libya, with military equipment and vehicles behind them, and included them in conversations on social media, leaving his photo in the military uniform clear while covering the faces of his colleagues participating with him.