EU reigns in Greek helicopter from conducting a ship inspection for arms smuggling to Libya's Saratz

According to information available to Greek media, the cargo ship Cirkin is moving southwest of Crete, heading for Libya. The management of the EU operation "IRINI", which has the mission to maintain the arms embargo in Libya, ruled that the ship may be carrying illegal weapons and so an order was given to launch a helicopter from the frigate "Spetsai" which is participatimg in the operation to check on the ship. The captain and crew of the merchant ship, however, did not respond to the helicopter's calls for inspection, and a little later one of the three Turkish ships replied that the ship was under the protection of the Turkish Republic.

Eventually, the helicopter returned to the Greek frigate on the orders of the European operation's command. It is noted that IRINI forces continue to monitor Turkish ships.

Sources in the Ministry of Defense said that it was a European problem for preventing a Greek helicopter from the "Spetsai" frigate from proceeding with a suspicious ship believed to be transporting weapons as part of Operation EIRINI, after the helicopter received a signal from Turkish frigates to leave.

It should be noted that despite UN resolutions and the Berlin Conference on arms embargoes on the warring parties in Libya, Turkey continues to supply arms to the Saratz side.

According to information circulating on social media, Turkey is trying to bolster the Tripoli government's army operation to seize Sirte, which is controlled by Haftar's forces.