According to a report from the country’s Ministry of Health, violent clashes between opposing Libyan militias have resulted in at least 32 deaths and 159 injuries.
Overnight, fierce combat broke out in the capital as various loud explosions echoed around the city and competing forces traded furious gunfire. Social media is awash with images and videos documenting the extent of the fighting, which left scores of residential buildings wrecked as well as several cars that were shattered and set on fire.
Following the 2011 NATO-supported rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has been divided between fighting factions since 2014.
Violent clashes out after months of escalating hostilities between supporters of Abdulhamid Dbeibah and Fathi Bashagha, whose opposing governments are battling for power in the North African nation that has experienced more than a decade of conflict since an uprising in 2011.
Bashagha has so far been prevented from taking office in the capital by Dbeibah’s administration, which was put in place as part of a United Nations-led peace process after the conclusion of the last major battle in 2020. Dbeibah’s administration contends that the next administration should be the result of elections.
Bashagha was chosen by the eastern-based parliament of Libya earlier this year and is supported by Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of the eastern military, whose attempt to take the capital by force in 2019 resulted in a civil war that lasted a full year.
Former interior minister Bashagha first disclaimed using force to seize control of Tripoli, but he has since made hints that he might do so.
Following the assassination of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 in a Western-backed rebellion, Libya descended into instability, with numerous armed factions and international countries moving to fill the power vacuum.
This past weekend, some armed organisations that were thought to be impartial in the most recent crisis decided to support Dbeibah in an effort to thwart Bashagha’s second attempt to invade the capital.
