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The Italian government authorised the country’s navy to carry out the mission on Wednesday, in a bid to stop refugees crossing the Mediterranean sea and heading to Europe.

But the presence of Italian ships in Libyan waters provoked furious reactions from the north African country.

And General Khalifa Haftar, who controls most of the east of Libya, ordered his forces to bomb any ships engaged in the upcoming naval support mission according to a tweet by news site Al Arabiya.

The tweet read: “#Haftar orders bombing of #Italian warships requested by Sarraj.”