Libya’s conflict calls for international attention

The military conflict shaking Libya escalated Sunday as forces of strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an air strike on a suburb of Tripoli and the UN-backed government vowed a major counteroffensive.

The United Nations called for an urgent two-hour truce for the southern outskirts of the capital to allow evacuations of civilians and the wounded.

Rivalries between the two camps threaten to plunge the country into a full-blown civil war after Haftar on Thursday launched an offensive on Tripoli.

Oil-rich Libya has been riven by chaos since the NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with rival administrations and armed groups vying for power.

Repeated attempts to find a peaceful solution have failed.

After a pause overnight, fierce fighting flared anew on Sunday morning south of the capital between Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) and forces backing the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

As clashes raged in the mainly farmland region of Wadi Raba and the disused international airport south of the capital, a spokesman for pro-GNA forces said a “counteroffensive” had been launched to push back Haftar’s forces.

Colonel Mohamed Gnounou told reporters that operation “Volcano of Anger” was aimed at “purging all Libyan cities of aggressor and illegitimate forces”, in reference to Haftar fighters.

The LNA meanwhile announced it had carried out its first air raid on a Tripoli suburb, despite calls by the international community to halt hostilities.

GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj warned on Saturday of a “war without a winner” and said that reinforcements were pouring into Tripoli from several regions.

Powerful armed groups from the western city of Misrata and fighters from Zentan and Zawiya — all battle-hardened militiamen who took part in the 2011 uprising that toppled Kadhafi — have joined the battle.

At least one armed group from Misrata known as Brigade 166 arrived Saturday in eastern Tripoli with dozens of vehicles, some mounted with anti-aircraft guns, to join the counter-offensive, an AFP photographer said.

“We are waiting for orders to repel any advance by the enemy towards Tripoli,” said the group’s spokesman Khaled Abu Jazia.

Misrata fighters ousted the Islamic State group from Libya’s coastal city of Sirte, Kadhafi’s hometown, in 2016 after months of bitter fighting.

Sunday’s LNA air raid came a day after forces backing the GNA launched air strikes on their rivals for the first time since the offensive began, with at least one targeting an LNA position south of Tripoli.

– ‘Protracted war’ –

LNA spokesman Ahmed Mesmari had vowed the force would retaliate.

On Saturday he said pro-Haftar fighters were “progressing on several fronts… as planned” and that Tripoli would soon be captured.

Analysts say Haftar has been buoyed by a series of successful military operations that have brought all of the east and much of the south of Libya under his control.