The Libyan government has summoned the French ambassador after Paris confirmed the deaths of three of its soldiers on a secret mission near Benghazi last week.
French president François Hollande confirmed the deaths last Wednesday, saying France was “carrying out dangerous intelligence operations there”. “Three of our soldiers who were taking part in those operations have lost their lives,” he said.
“Libya is going through dangerous instability and it’s a few hundred kilometres from European coasts,” he added.
The acknowledgement that French Special Forces are conducting operations in the country angered Libya’s UN-backed government, who released a statement saying it “considered the French presence in Libya's eastern region as a breach of international norms and sovereignty which it rejects".
Since the news protests have taken place against both the French presence and the Libyan government in Tripoli and Misrata.
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