Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar has called on all Libyans to take up arms in response to a prospective military intervention from Turkey aimed at shoring up the UN-backed government in Tripoli.
The beleaguered Tripoli government, headed by Fayez Al-Sarraj, has been under attack since April by LNA.
Turkey's parliament on Thursday approved the deployment of troops to Libya after it received a request for military support from Sarraj's elected government.
"We accept the challenge and declare jihad and a call to arms," said Haftar in a televised address on Friday.
He urged "all Libyans" to bear arms, "men and women, soldiers and civilians, to defend our land and our honour".
He said it was no longer a question of liberating Tripoli from the militias, but of "facing a coloniser", accusing Ankara of wanting to "regain control of Libya", a former province of the Ottoman Empire.
Libya has been beset by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed Libya's then president Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
*This story has been edited by Ahram Online
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