at least 13 people dead in fighting between militias in Tripoli

Fighting between militias that erupted overnight from Friday to Saturday in Tripoli left at least 13 dead and 95 injured, raising fears of a new war in Libya, already in chaos with two rival governments. Six hospitals were affected by the strikes while ambulances were unable to access the combat zones, the Minister of Health announced on Saturday August 27.

Clashes between competing militias, with light and heavy weapons, broke out in several neighborhoods of Tripoli (west) where bursts of gunfire and shelling rang out all night. They continued on Saturday evening, reaching new neighborhoods, noted an AFP journalist. The fighting caused extensive damage, according to images posted on the internet, showing charred cars and buildings riddled with bullets or set on fire. The Tripoli-based government blamed the clashes on the rival government camp, led by Fathi Bachagha and supported by Marshal Haftar, even as “negotiations had to take place to avoid bloodshed in the capital”.

Fathi Bachagha’s media office in turn accused the Tripoli government of “cling to power”accusing him of being “illegitimate”. He also denied any negotiations with his rival for an agreement. These fights have been on an unprecedented scale since the failure in June 2020 of Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s attempt, a strongman from the East, to conquer the capital militarily, at the height of the civil war that followed the fall of the regime. of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.