LÉ Aisling finds new lease of life with Libyan warlord

A former Naval Service ship, auctioned off to a private broker, has ended up in Libya under control of a man who has been described as his country’s most potent warlord.

Irish Naval Service personnel may recognise the renamed Al-Karama (Dignity) during their humanitarian operations in the Mediterranean Sea — because she used to be LÉ Aisling.

She was delivered recently to forces loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who are involved in fighting a bitter civil war which has rolled on in Libya since 2014.