Greece to deploy navy to deter Libyan migrant crossings

Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said the country will deploy warships near Libya's territorial waters, following a notable rise in the number of migrants arriving on Greek islands after crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa.

Mitsotakis announced the move following an emergency meeting of Greece's Council of Ministers.

"Unfortunately, we have seen several incidents in recent days that force us to act in a preventive and deterrent manner more strongly," he said.

Last week, in just 24 hours 731 migrants landed on the islands of Crete and Gavdos, with many originating in Pakistan, Sudan, and Eritrea.

Greece is one of the most commonly-targeted entry points by people trying to gain access to the European Union. Last year, more than 60,000 migrants landed in Greece, a sharp increase on 2023's total of 48,000. And by the middle of this month, there had already been more than 16,000 arrivals in 2025.

"I have asked the defense minister and the leadership of the armed forces to ensure that Greek navy ships are sent outside Libyan territorial waters," said Mitsotakis, calling it "a precautionary measure" carried out "always in cooperation with the Libyan authorities and the other European powers". He said he hoped it would "send a message that (migrant) smugglers will not be in charge of who enters our country".

Greece's Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis is due to visit Libya early next month for high-level talks, with maritime border tensions and irregular migration two of the main topics on the agenda.

In an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in May, Greece's Minister for Migration and Asylum Makis Voridis said increased cooperation with neighboring Turkiye, which was previously a busy migrant route, had led to a significant drop in attempted border crossings in the first four months of the year, "although the influx from Libya has increased by 174 percent".

Italy signed an agreement with the Libyan government in 2017, under which, in return for technical and financial help from Rome, Libya intercepted thousands of people trying to cross to Italy and took them back, which has led to increased pressure on crossing routes from Tobruk in eastern Libya to Crete in Greece.

Greece would reportedly like a similar arrangement, but eastern Libya is under the control of rebels, rather than the internationally-recognized Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, making negotiations difficult.