TRIPOLI— A night of clashes between militias in the heart
of a residential district of the
Libyan capital Tripoli raised fears on
Saturday of escalating violence in the conflict-riven country.
اضافة اعلان
The intense
fighting that erupted late Friday between two armed groups that back rival
prime ministers left at least one person dead and caused significant material
damage, a security source told AFP.
Gunfire and
explosions rang out across Tripoli during the fighting, described by one
resident as possibly the “heaviest” seen in the city for more than a decade.
It was the latest
violence to rock the country after a failed bid last month by former interior
minister
Fathi Bashagha — voted in as prime minister by parliament — to take
power from interim premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah.
Footage aired by
Libyan media showed civilians, including women pushing children in prams,
fleeing on busy streets in a built-up area after being caught in the crossfire.
The fighting broke
out in Souk Talat neighborhood and pitted two militias — Al-Nawasi, considered
close to Bashagha, and the pro-Dbeibah Stability Support Apparatus — against
one another, said the security source.
It came amid
tensions following the arrest of fighters from both militias, said the source,
who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The clashes
stopped after mediation by a neutral military force (Brigade 444), which
deployed a number of its armored vehicles” in the area of the fighting, he
added.
A video released
overnight showed Dbeibah ordering members of the force to intervene to secure
the area and protect civilians.
The source said
there had been no civilian casualties, but cited “material damage”.
‘Criminal militias’
By Saturday,
normality had largely been restored to the area, but the violence sparked
renewed outrage among residents.
“This situation is
unacceptable and it is unbearable for civilians to be caught in an ambush that
puts their lives at risk because of the settling of scores by criminal
militias,” 25-year-old student Maha Mokhtar told AFP.
“What is the fault
of these families who fled their homes?” she added.
Rida Said, another
resident, said he had seen the fighting from his own balcony, describing the
clashes as “perhaps the heaviest in our area since 2011”.
“It was clear that
they were firing randomly at civilian areas with a lot of buildings,” the
67-year-old said.
“I was struck by
panic and I feared for my children, who went out with their friends as they do
every weekend... but thankfully they returned safely.”
The latest bout of
fighting drew international condemnation, including from Stephanie Williams,
the
UN secretary-general’s special adviser on Libya.
“Enough is enough!
I call for absolute calm and protection of civilians,” she tweeted Saturday,
alongside a statement calling on parties to exercise “maximum restraint”.
The EU’s envoy to
Libya, Jose Sabadell, condemned the fighting as “shocking and shameful”.
“Arms were fired at
a park where children run and play. Public spaces in Tripoli belong to
families, not to men with guns,” he wrote on Twitter.
Last month,
Bashagha attempted to seize power in Tripoli, sparking pre-dawn clashes between
armed groups supporting him and those backing interim premier
Abdulhamid Dbeibah.
It was the latest
episode of political infighting to fill the power vacuum left after the
toppling of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
Dbeibah was
appointed under a troubled UN-led peace process early last year to lead a
transition to elections set for December 2021, but the vote was indefinitely
postponed.
In February,
parliament appointed Bashagha to take over, arguing that Dbeibah’s mandate had
ended.
But Dbeibah has
insisted he will only relinquish power to an elected administration.
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