Turkish  President Tayyip Erdogan announced his country readiness to provide military assistance to Libya after Ankara approved a security deal.

“We will be protecting the rights of Libya and Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he declared on A Haber TV. “We are more than ready to give whatever support necessary to Libya.”

Khalifa Haftar, who commands forces in eastern Libya, “is not a lawful leader…and is representative of an illegal structure,” Erdogan expressed after meeting Fayez al-Sarraj, prime minister of Libya’s Government of National Accord.