Thousands flee Tripoli homes as battle rages on outskirts

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Eastern-based forces battled troops loyal to the Tripoli government in the outskirts of Libya's capital on Wednesday as thousands of residents fled the fighting.

The Libyan National Army (LNA) forces of eastern commander Khalifa Haftar held positions in the suburbs about 11 kilometers south of the city center. Steel shipping containers, sand barriers and pickups with mounted machine-guns blocked their way into the capital.

It's said that LNA planes buzzed Tripoli as anti-aircraft guns fired at them, and on the ground, Haftar's forces were fighting forces aligned with Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj at the former international airport and in the district of Ain Zara.

At least 4,500 residents in the capital city had been displaced, and most of them moved away from homes in conflict areas to safer districts, according to the United Nations.

Libyan National Army members head out of Benghazi to reinforce the troops advancing to Tripoli, April 7, 2019. /VCG Photo

The LNA forces moved out of their stronghold in eastern Libya to take the sparsely-populated but oil-rich south earlier this year, before heading a week ago toward Tripoli, where the internationally-recognized government is located.

The North African country has been divided and anarchic since the 2011 toppling of Muammar Gaddafi, who had ruled for more than four decades before falling in a popular uprising.

Since then, political and armed factions have vied for power and control of the country's oil wealth. After a battle for Tripoli in 2014, the country split into rival eastern and western administrations.

UN efforts

The United Nations, which wants to bring both sides together to plan an election and a way out of the chaos, has appealed for a ceasefire.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the press before departing from Benina International Airport in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, April 5, 2019. /VCG Photo

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said there was still time for a ceasefire "to avoid the worst, which would be a dramatic, bloody battle for Tripoli."

"We have a very dangerous situation and it is clear that we absolutely need to stop it," said Guterres after the meeting.

Summarizing the council discussion, German UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, the current president of the 15-member body, said others echoed Guterres' call for a ceasefire.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said it was extremely concerned about the "disproportionate and indiscriminate use" of explosive weapons in densely-populated areas.

Illegal migrants sit inside a shelter in Tripoli, September 5, 2018. /VCG Photo

Half a million children were at risk, it estimated.

Besides, the renewed conflict in Libya threatens to disrupt oil supplies, increase migration across the Mediterranean to Europe and scupper the UN. peace plan.

Several thousand migrants, detained after trying to use Libya as a staging point for crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, have been caught up in the crisis.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday it had relocated more than 150 of them -- among several thousand in total -- from one detention center in south Tripoli to a facility of its own in a safe zone.

Source(s): Reuters