The route from eastern Libya to Crete has become the main channel of illegal migration to Greece
In 2026, nearly 20,000 people attempted to reach the Greek island of Crete from Libya. Deutsche Welle examines how the fight against smuggling on the Italy route in 2023 reshaped the smuggling networks, and what role the 'conflict economy' of eastern Libya plays in this.
Otabek Yusupov