(Bloomberg) -- Six Turkish sailors were freed by their Libyan captors after Ankara threatened to take military action in the conflict-ravaged North African country.
The sailors -- who were captured by forces loyal to insurgent general Khalifa Haftar under unclear circumstances -- returned to their ship, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Monday, without elaborating.
The hostage standoff had threatened to draw one of the largest armies of NATO deeper into what’s rapidly becoming the Middle East’s latest proxy conflict to control an oil-rich country divided between two rival administrations. Turkey on Sunday threatened that Haftar’s forces “will become legitimate targets” if its citizens weren’t freed.
Haftar, who is supported by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, accuses Turkey of providing armed drones and other weapons to the United Nations-backed government in Tripoli to help repel his campaign to capture the capital.
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