THE WORLD : LIBYANS FINAL BATTLE

BENGHAZI : HAFTAR is backed by Egypt, UAE and Russian mercenaries.
Libyan Commander Khaifa Haftar urged his forces to advance towards the centre of Tripoli on Thursday in what he said would be the ''final battle'' for the capital.

Haftar, who heads the eastern-based Libyan National Army [LNA], launched an offensive in April to try to take control of Tripoli which stalled on the outskirts of the city.

''Today we announce the decisive battle and the advancement towards the heart of the capital to set it free........advance now our heroes.'' Haftar said in a televised speech broadcast on Thursday.

His forces have often issued announcements of advances or decisive military action that have been followed by little concrete change on the battlefield.

''Our forces are ready to fight any new insane attempt,'' by Haftar to attack the city, Libya's al-Ahrar channel quoted Tripoli's interior minister Fathi Bashagha as saying.

Haftar is backed by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and most recently Russian mercenaries, according to diplomats and Tripoli officials.

The LNA denies it has foreign backing.

EU leaders reject Turkey-Libya deal : Earlier an accord between Libya and Turkey mapping out maritime boundaries in violation of internal law, European Union leaders said on Thursday in support of Greece, which objects to the deal, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters.

Greece last week expelled the Libyan ambassador in response to the agreement, infuriated at a pact which skirts the Greek island of Crete and Infringes, in Athens view, its continental shelf.

''The Turkey-Libya memorandum of understanding on the delimitation of maritime jurisdictions in the Mediterranean Sea infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states [and] does not comply with the [UN] Law of the Sea,'' EU leaders will say, according to the draft statement prepared for a two-day summit from Thursday. [Reuters]