Al Arabiya reported that the Hafter controlled Libyan National Army has said that they have confirmed that the military jet they shot down south of Tripoli belonged to the EU’s Operation Sophia and that they will immediately return its foreign Portuguese pilot.
Operation Sophia is part of an EU effort to monitor illegal immigration from Libya to the EU.
A Libyan National Army spokesperson said that "We will deliver the Portuguese pilot to his country immediately after the treatment of his wounds and we appreciate the work of our European brothers in the fight against illegal immigration."
“We care about the safety of the Portuguese pilot and treat him as a guest rather than a prisoner. What happened was a mistake as a result of the state of war we are going through, and we will hand him over to the European Sofia operation immediately," He added.