Iraq to repatriate 173 citizens from Libya on military aircraft

BAGHDAD — Iraq has allocated military aircraft to repatriate 173 of its citizens who entered Libya illegally, the head of Iraq’s diplomatic mission in Libya said Sunday.

Ahmed al-Sahhaf said Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani approved the use of C-130 aircraft to carry out the returns.

“Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani approved the allocation of C130 aircraft to return Iraqi migrants from Libya voluntarily,” al-Sahhaf said in a statement.

He said the Iraqi Embassy in Libya has completed all legal and administrative procedures for the return of the migrants, “who had fallen victim to smuggling and human trafficking networks.”

Al-Sahhaf said the embassy has been providing food, medicine, bedding and other essential supplies to Iraqis currently held at the Tripoli center for combating illegal migration. He added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to work on voluntary returns and migrant protection as trafficking networks persist in targeting Iraqi youth.

“The repatriation flights are scheduled for January 21 and 22, departing from Tripoli, and will include medical teams,” he said.

He said the operation is being coordinated in real time between the Iraqi Embassy in Libya, the Foreign Ministry in Baghdad and the Department of Foreign Relations in the Kurdistan Region.

Iraqi authorities have stepped up efforts in recent months to locate and return citizens who entered Libya irregularly, as the country remains a major transit hub for migrants attempting to reach Europe via the central Mediterranean.

In December, Iraq’s head of mission in Libya said the embassy completed voluntary repatriation procedures for 70 Iraqi migrants and continued work “at a high level” to determine the fate of dozens of others. In late October, 40 people from the Raparin administration in Sulaymaniyah returned to the Kurdistan Region after more than two months in Libyan detention, with several describing harsh conditions, including food shortages and lack of medical care. “It was truly a disaster. Our living conditions there were terrible,” one returnee told 964media at the time.

Libya continues to see large numbers of migrants despite increased enforcement and coordination with European states, while Iraqi and Kurdish migrants also attempt irregular routes through Turkey and across the Mediterranean toward Italy and Malta.