Turkey's parliament passed a bill on Thursday approving a military deployment to Libya aimed at shoring up the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, at a time of intensifying international tensions over the conflict. 

When the European Union started funneling millions of euros into Libya to slow the tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, the money came with EU promises to improve detention centers notorious for abuse and fight human trafficking.

That hasn't happened. Instead, the misery of migrants in Libya has spawned a thriving and highly lucrative web of businesses funded in part by the EU and enabled by the United Nations, an Associated Press investigation has found.

Cyprus has stepped up its campaign against the UN-recognised Libyan government's increasingly close military ties with Turkey, hosting talks on Saturday with a leading figure in the rival Libyan administration.

The Turkish parliament will in January vote on a motion to send troops to Libya to support the UN-backed government in Tripoli, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.

"We will present the motion to send troops (to Libya) as soon as parliament resumes" on January 7, Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.

Officials in Libya's U.N.-supported government say they plan to confront Moscow over the alleged deployment of Russian mercenaries fighting alongside their opponents in the country's civil war.

Libyan and U.S. officials accuse Russia of deploying fighters through a private security contractor, the Wagner Group, to key battleground areas in Libya in the past months.

Senior US officials met with Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar Monday to discuss steps toward ending his offensive on Tripoli, and accused Russia of exploiting the conflict, the State Department said.

The delegation, which included the US ambassador to Libya Richard Norland, aimed to establish "steps to achieve a suspension of hostilities and a political resolution to the Libyan conflict," the statement read.

Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the Libya's internationally recognized Government of National Accord, attacked foreign powers Wednesday for backing military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whom he described as a "bloodthirsty criminal."

Three civilians were killed Saturday in an air raid south of the Libyan capital, a source in the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord said.

Flights were temporarily suspended Saturday at the Libyan capital's sole functioning airport after it was hit by a rocket as two civilian flights were landing, airport authorities said. 

"Flights are suspended until further notice due to rocket fire," the Mitiga airport said on its Facebook page. 

Flights from the Libyan capital's sole functioning airport were suspended Thursday after deadly overnight rocket fire, a spokesman for the country's unity government said.