The forces of Libyan Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar on Tuesday rained rockets on Tripoli after being ousted by unity government loyalists from a string of strategic towns west of the capital.
The capture on Monday of the coastal towns of Sorman and Sabratha was seen as a major blow to Haftar, who in April last year launched an offensive to seize Tripoli.
The towns lie about 65km west of Tripoli, about halfway to the Tunisian border.
Photo: AFP / SEA-EYE.ORG / Cedric FETTOUCHE
The oil-rich, but poverty-stricken country has suffered almost a decade of conflict since former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi was toppled and killed in a 2011 uprising backed by several Western powers.
The UN has said that hundreds have been killed and more than 200,000 displaced in the year since Haftar launched his battle for Tripoli, which quickly ground to a bloody stalemate.
Late on Monday, salvo after salvo of rockets began raining down on Tripoli, where the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) is based, and loud explosions could still be heard on Tuesday morning and again into the afternoon, correspondents said.
Several homes were hit around an air base at Mitiga International Airport in the eastern suburbs, the capital’s sole and only intermittently functioning airport.
One person was wounded, rescuers said on Monday.
Since then, no casualty updates have been issued.
The latest escalation comes as concern runs high over the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Libya.
The UN has warned that health services in the country are fragile and that many hospitals near fighting zones south of Tripoli have been damaged or closed.
Adding to the misery, more than 2 million residents of areas in and around Tripoli have for the past week been hit by water and power cuts, with the UN accusing “armed groups” of cutting off supplies.
Fighting also raged on Tuesday south of the capital, a GNA military source said.
The GNA accused pro-Haftar forces of pounding Tripoli in revenge against the civilian population following Monday’s losses.
“The criminal militia and mercenaries have taken out their anger on residential neighborhoods of Tripoli to avenge their defeat, firing dozens of rockets and missiles on the capital indiscriminately,” spokesman Mohamad Gnunu said.
The commander of pro-GNA forces, Oussama al-Jwili, on Monday said the operation to capture Sabratha and Sorman was launched after he received word that Haftar fighters were moving west.
The strongman’s forces were planning to advance on the city of Zouara near the Tunisian frontier in an attempt to seize it and then advance on the Ras Jedir border post.
Several UN-backed attempts to reach a ceasefire between Libya’s two rival forces have failed, and the world body has slammed repeated breaches of a 2011 weapons embargo.
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