Turkey's Parliament on Tuesday extended a law to deploy troops to Libya for another 18 months.
The bill renewed a one-year mandate that came into force in January following a security and military agreement with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord in western Libya.
Tuesday's decision comes in the wake of a UN-brokered cease-fire in Libya that was declared in October, that calls for the departure of all foreign forces and mercenaries within three months.
Opposition parties voted against the extension, but the combined votes of Turkey’s ruling party and its nationalist allies allowed the bill to pass.
Libya descended into chaos following the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed long-time dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
The oil-rich North African nation is now split between the Tripoli government and its rival administration in the east. Both sides are backed by regional and foreign powers and local militias.
Ankara’s support for the GNA has turned the tide of war in Libya. Turkish military assistance – including advisers, equipment and intelligence – helped obstruct a year-long military attempt to capture Tripoli by forces loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, a Libyan commander who heads the Libyan National Army that is loyal to the eastern House of Representatives.
Turkey also sent thousands of Syrian mercenaries to Libya to fight for the militias that back the GNA.
Turkey also signed a controversial maritime agreement with the Tripoli government last year, giving it access to a contested economic zone across the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The deal added tensions to Turkey’s ongoing dispute with Greece, Cyprus and Egypt over oil and gas drilling rights.
In a possible setback for the UN efforts to end the crisis, Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov informed UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres that he will be unable to take up the role of Libya envoy next year, a spokesman for the global forum said on Tuesday.
Mr Mladenov, who is about to finish his stint as the UN's envoy for the Middle East peace process, had been lined up to succeed Ghassan Salame who stepped down in March because of health reasons.
Mr Mladenov told Mr Guterres that when his current role ends on December 31 he will resign from the UN, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for Guterres, told reporters.
"Mr Mladenov told the Secretary General in a letter that he had taken this decision for personal and family reasons," Mr Dujarric said.
He said the UN was looking at potential candidates and acting envoy Stephanie Williams would remain in the role for now.
More on Quran memorisation:
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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World Cup warm-up fixtures
Friday, May 24:
- Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
- Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)
Saturday, May 25
- England v Australia (Southampton)
- India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)
Sunday, May 26
- South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
- Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)
Monday, May 27
- Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
- England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)
Tuesday, May 28
- West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
- Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)