:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/GZSXY5WA53HSJQ4HSQKEIQZP3E.jpg "Your top stories on Thursday: Ex-Irish special forces resume training in Libya despite warnings; visa-free travel from South Africa could be halted")
Former soldiers of the elite Army Ranger Wing have resumed military training operations in Libya in apparent breach of international sanctions, despite warnings from the Irish Government.
Irish Training Solutions (ITS), which was founded by former members of Ireland’s elite special forces unit, now has 16 instructors training the troops of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar under a contract worth more than €10 million. The deal is due to run into 2025.
Earlier this month, The Irish Times published an investigation detailing a contract between ITS and the Russian-backed general Haftar to train a special forces unit for his Libyan National Army in an apparent contravention of EU and UN arms embargoes on the country.
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