The Libyan National Army (LNA), the military force loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar, reported losing two helicopters on Sunday during a military operation against their former allies, the front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT).

The LNA does not accept the authority of the internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, but instead supports an alternative government called the House of Representatives (HoR) based in the eastern city of Tobruk. 

The LNA laid siege to Tripoli for over a year, attempting to displace the GNA with support from Russia, Egypt, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates. The siege was broken in June 2020 when Turkey stepped in to reinforce the GNA. Haftar and the LNA returned to eastern Libya, where they still control a substantial amount of territory, although Haftar’s grip on key cities like Benghazi appears to be slipping.

Self-proclaimed Libyan National Army Chief of Staff Khalifa Haftar arrives for a conference on Libya on November 12, 2018, at Villa Igiea in Palermo. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images)

The LNA’s manpower for the march on Tripoli was bolstered by FACT, an insurgent Chadian group based in southeastern Libyan territory controlled by Haftar.

FACT became operational in 2016 after Chadian President Idriss Deby won his fifth term in an election denounced as rigged by the opposition. Unlike most Chadians who live across the border in Libya, FACT was willing to take up arms for Haftar, and he rewarded them with heavy military equipment.

Deby was re-elected to a sixth term in April 2021, ostensibly with almost 80 percent of the vote. With greater numbers and better weapons after their time working with the LNA in Libya, FACT assaulted N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, and managed to kill Deby on the battlefield the day after his re-election. Deby’s 37-year-old son, Gen. Mahamat Idriss Deby, took over as interim president.

Chad’s President Idriss Deby welcomes France’s president upon his arrival at the international airport of N’Djamena on December 22, 2018. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)

“Chad is not a monarchy. There can be no dynastic devolution of power in our country,” FACT responded, vowing to overthrow Mahamat as well. 

In late August, FACT appeared to soften its stance and expressed a willingness to negotiation with Mahamat Deby’s government, “if there are peaceful initiatives to build a new democratic Chad without dictatorship and the absolute confiscation of power.”

The LNA opened fire on FACT last week, reportedly because FACT fighters were crossing back from Chad into Haftar’s Libyan territory, although the precise reasons for the conflict breaking out between the LNA and its old Chadian allies are unclear.

Some observers suggest Haftar wants a very hard break from his relationship with FACT because the Chadian insurgents enraged Western nations by killing Deby – especially France, which sees Chad as vital to regional stability. Haftar still has political ambitions in Libya and might not wish to be drawn into Chadian factional warfare.

Members of the the “Saiqa” (Special Forces) of the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA), loyal to eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar, cheer as above flies a Russian-made Libyan Mil Mi-8 helicopter during an event in tribute to the unit’s late commander General Wanis Bukhamada, who died a week prior, in the eastern city of Benghazi on November 6, 2020. (Abdullah Doma/AFP via Getty Images)

The LNA announced last week that it was conducting airstrikes and other military operations against “terrorist groups,” while FACT claimed its positions along the Libyan border were attacked by French troops and Sudanese mercenaries along with the LNA. France denied its forces played any role in the fighting.

On Sunday, the LNA said two of its helicopters collided and crashed during a “military operation” against FACT forces about 80 miles from Benghazi. The nature of the military operation was not specified.

An LNA spokesman said a “direct impact between two helicopters” resulted in two deaths “while the two aircraft were carrying out a military mission.”