I did a deep dive video on the Turkish-Libyan deal that was just recently done. In 2019, Turkey made a deal with the Government of National Accord which rules over West Libya under the Dbeibah family, to allow Turkey to drill for petroleum and hydrocarbons on Libyan land and maritime territory. But, the government of Khalifah Haftar in East Libya rejected the deal. Haftar was closer to Russia and Israel and did not want Turkish encroachment on Libyan territorial waters. Plus, the Greeks, Egyptians, Israelis and Cypriots were worried about the deal, in fear that Turkey would encroach upon their territorial waters. In April of 2026, the US began to conspire with Turkey on uniting Libya on the deal. The US told Saddam Haftar that if he wanted billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets that he needed to agree to the deal with Turkey.
The US wanted Turkey to unite East and West Libya so as to pull the Haftar government away from Russia and closer to NATO through Turkey. Israel is now worried because this could mean Turkey patrolling the maritime strip of territory that lies between southwest Turkey and northeast Libya, and thus subjecting Israel to a potential naval blockade within an “Ottoman lake”, preventing Israel from exporting Gulf oil and gas into Europe. If the Turks make that maritime strip between Turkey and Libya into a naval zone, that would mean Israel being fully circled on the seas, since the Houthis already block Israel from using its port city, Eiliat. Israel’s access to the sea is limited to the Mediterranean, and if the Turks put their navy in between southwest Turkey and northeast Libya, Israel will be fully encircled on the eastern Mediterranean: