Tripoli - Page 2

Allegedly foreign warplanes and drones fighting on behalf of warlord Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) have reportedly intensified their air campaign around the North African country’s capital of Tripoli over the last two days, leaving civilians trapped and unable to escape the besieged region.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) have deployed reinforcements to the legitimate government of Libya, the Government of National Accord (GNA), to prevent renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) from conquering Tripoli, a spokesman for the warlord’s forces claimed over the weekend.

President Donald Trump recognized the “significant role in fighting terrorism” of Libyan Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) in a phone call with Haftar on Monday, potentially marking a shift from favoring the United Nations-brokered government to endorsing the warlord who controls most of the country.

The head of the United Nations mission in Libya on Wednesday blasted “in the strongest terms” warlord Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s ongoing offensive to take the capital of Tripoli from troops loyal to the internationally recognized administration, accusing his eastern forces of committing “war crimes” with “indiscriminate” shelling overnight that struck densely-populated area.

Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), warned on Tuesday that 800,000 more migrants could be driven into Europe unless the assault on Tripoli by warlord Khalifa Haftar ends soon.

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya is on the verge of an all-out war involving a rogues’ gallery of militias, many of which are little more than criminal gangs armed with heavy weapons.

The office of Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi reportedly expressed support for Libyan renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar on Sunday during a visit by the latter, occurring as his troops continue an ongoing invasion against the internationally-recognized Libyan government in Tripoli.

France, which owns oil assets in Libya, reportedly sidelined a European Union statement this week calling on the Paris and Moscow-backed Libyan strongman Gen. Khalifa Haftar to halt his eastern army’s offensive against forces loyal to the North African country’s internationally recognized government in Tripoli.

Fighting continued around Tripoli on Wednesday as forces loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) consolidated their hold on the suburbs while the U.N.-sponsored Government of National Accord (GNA) dug in with barricades and machine-gun platforms.

Jihadists loyal to the Islamic State reportedly attacked a stronghold Tuesday under the control of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar miles from Libya’s capital, Tripoli, where Haftar launched an invasion to overthrow the internationally-recognized government this week.

The United Nations condemned an airstrike on the only functioning airport in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, on Monday.

The U.S. military over the weekend announced that it had “temporarily” withdrawn a small contingent of American troops from Libya “due to increased unrest” in Tripoli fueled by ongoing battles between pro-internationally recognized government forces and an army loyal to a renegade warlord backed by Russia, France, and neighboring Egypt, among other countries.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres flew from Tripoli to Benghazi on Friday to meet with warlord Khalifa Haftar, whose forces are converging on Tripoli in a push to dislodge the U.N.-sanctioned but distressingly ineffectual Government of National Accord (GNA).

Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, commander of the so-called Libyan National Army (LNA), commenced his march on Tripoli Thursday, capturing a town only 60 miles south of the national capital and headquarters of the U.N.-backed, internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA). The GNA issued military alerts as skirmishes were reported between its forces and the LNA vanguard.

Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, who has conquered well over half the country despite the international community formally recognizing an entirely different government as legitimate, was a guest of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz in Riyadh on Wednesday. Details of their conversation are scarce, but Haftar’s first visit to Saudi Arabia seems like a significant event.

Libyan National Army (LNA) forces loyal to the Russian-backed strongman Gen. Khalifa Haftar reportedly killed civilians, including children, and set dozens of homes ablaze after capturing Libya’s southern city of Murzuq over the weekend, two lawmakers representing each of the rival governments asserted.

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Friday urged all factions to stand down from a military confrontation as tribesmen and government troops occupied different parts of El Sharara, the country’s largest oil field.

The Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a gun attack on the Libyan Foreign Ministry in Tripoli that killed three people, including a high-ranking ministry official. Up to 21 others were wounded in the attack.

A month of fighting between two of the many heavily-armed gangs fighting for control of Libya killed at least 115 people and wounded 383 more, according to a statement from the Libyan Health Ministry on Sunday. Thousands of families have been displaced, children are at risk, and the conflict threatens to spiral even further out of control.

Contents: Libya declares state of emergency, closes Tripoli airport; The deterioration of Libya since the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’

Representatives of the warring factions that control portions of chaotic Libya tentatively agreed to hold national elections on December 10 during a conference in Paris on Tuesday. They also resolved to make progress toward drafting a constitution by September.

The prime minister of Libya’s United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has reportedly urged Russia to help him end his war-ravaged country’s domestic conflict.

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee told a Thursday forum at the Washington-based watchdog Judicial Watch that starting April 1 his committee and staff will hold President Donald Trump and his administration accountable for producing requested documents.

CNN brings us a little reminder of the disaster Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton left in Libya at the dawn of Obama’s last full day in office.

TEL AVIV – The State Department used deceptive means to ensure staff at the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi received diplomatic immunity without notifying the acting Libyan government of the existence of the American mission in Benghazi.

Although the Libyan unity government prematurely declared victory a few weeks ago, fierce fighting against Islamic State (ISIS) forces continues in the city of Sirte, killing more than 60 people on Tuesday alone. Meanwhile, the U.S. government has admitted to having “boots on the ground” in Libya, although their numbers and missions remain secret.

Contents: Western nations agree to lift arms embargo on Libya to fight ISIS; ISIS continues to grow in Libya in size and effectiveness

As part of a coordinated Islamic State offensive in western Libya Thursday, a Tunisian suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a checkpoint near the coastal city of Misrata, killing five people.

JERUSALEM – Lost in much of the news media coverage of Judicial Watch’s most recent Benghazi document disclosures is that the new materials lend weight to the argument that UN Ambassador Susan Rice deliberately misled the nation about the September 11,

The new Libyan “unity” government took a long time to reach the capital of Tripoli, because the Islamist warlords in control of the city would not let them use a plane. They had to sail from Tobruk to Tripoli by boat. They made port at the end of March, but did not get much further than the fortified naval base, where the “Government of National Accord” remains ensconced.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The number of Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists in Libya who aspire to attack Europe or the United States has more than doubled to between 4,000 and 6,000 in the last 12 to 18 months, but militias there have managed to limit the terrorist group’s growth, says the commander of U.S. forces in Africa.

The authorities in Libya’s capital Tripoli reportedly announced Tuesday that they were relinquishing power to the United Nations-backed unity government.

The U.N. envoy has been blocked from flying into Tripoli, which is the national capital, but not the current headquarters of the internationally-recognized legitimate government.

U.S. officials admitted to Voice of America News on Wednesday they are deeply concerned about the Islamic State’s growing strength in Africa, emanating from their stronghold in Libya, but could offer only disturbingly vague talk of assembling an anti-ISIS “coalition” to address the problem.

Contents: Italy debates military intervention in Libya after ISIS kills Italian hostages; Looking back at the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ Libya military intervention; Russian media calls Gaddafi’s Libya an ‘oasis of stability’; Police in Turkey use force to shut down opposition newspaper

“They’re getting stronger because no one is fighting them,” Libyan military commander Mahmoud Gazwan said of the Islamic State, in an interview with Reuters. Libyan officers are pleading for more Western help defeating the terror state.