Thousands Flee Homes in Tripoli as Fighters Battle on Outskirts

By Staff, Agencies

Eastern forces and troops loyal to the government in Tripoli fought on the outskirts of Libya’s capital on Wednesday as the battle forced thousands of residents to flee their homes.

The Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of eastern commander Khalifa Haftar had taken up positions in the suburbs about 11 km (7 miles) south of the center, with steel containers and pickups with mounted machine-guns blocking their way into the city.

Residents reported LNA planes buzzing Tripoli and the sound of clashes in outskirts of the city.

Haftar’s forces briefly took the former international airport earlier in the week, but Serraj’s fighters won that back and the LNA was entrenched further south, witnesses said.

The United Nations said that at least 4,500 Tripoli residents had been displaced, most moving away from conflict areas to safer districts of the city. But many more were trapped, it said.

The LNA forces moved out of their stronghold in east Libya to take the sparsely-populated but oil-rich south earlier this year, before heading a week ago towards Tripoli, where the internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj sits.

Libya has been split into rival eastern and western administrations since the 2011 topping of former strongman Muammar Gaddafi. The United Nations wants to bring both sides together to plan an election and way out of the chaos.

The United Nations’ humanitarian agency the OCHA said it was extremely concerned about the “disproportionate and indiscriminate use” of explosive weapons in densely-populated areas. Half a million children were at risk, it added.