A clash between two powerful armed groups in Libya left at least 55 dead in Tripoli.
It is the heaviest fighting to rock the African capital this year. Some 150 people have been wounded
Two powerful armed groups in Libya clashed from Monday to Tuesday night, causing at least 55 dead and there are at least 150 wounded, in the suburbs of Tripoli, according to the latest official balance sheet on Wednesday.
Fighting between the 444 Brigade and the Rada Force, or Special Deterrence Force, two formations of the many that emerged since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, erupted Monday night southeast of the capital.
At least 55 people were killed and 146 wounded in those clashes, Malek Mersit, spokesman for the Emergency Medical Center (CMU), told al-Ahrar television network.
Earlier, the CMU had reported that 234 families and dozens of foreign doctors and nurses were evacuated from southern areas of the city and that three field hospitals were set up and some sixty ambulances were mobilized to come to the aid of the wounded and civilians trapped by the fighting.
The clashes began on Monday when members of the Rada Force arrested Colonel Mahmud Hamza, commander of the 444 Brigade.
On Tuesday night, the “social council”, made up of notables from Soug al Joumaa, a sector of southeastern Tripoli and a stronghold of the Rada Force, announced that Hamza would be transferred to a neutral zone and that a cease-fire would be established when that happened.
By late Tuesday, the fighting subsided and by Wednesday Tripoli had resumed its daily rhythm, amid tensions.
Libya has been in chaos since the fall of the Qaddafi regime in 2011.
Currently, there are two rival governments in the country: that of Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, installed in Tripoli (west) and recognized by the UN; and the one supported by the powerful Marshal Jalifa Haftar, in the east.
Both the Rada Force and the 444 Brigade are aligned with Dbeibah’s government and are among the most powerful armed groups in Tripoli.
Brigade 444 reports to the Ministry of Defense and is considered the most disciplined of the armed groups in the west.
The Rada Force serves as the police in Tripoli. It declares itself independent from the government and controls the center and east of the city, as well as Mitiga airport and a prison.
Reopens the airport
Abdel Hamid Dbeibah visited the area ravaged by the fighting on Tuesday night, together with the interior minister, and asked for an assessment of “material damage to compensate citizens,” according to the government.
The Interior Ministry put in place a security mechanism to monitor the ceasefire and deployed forces in the most tense areas.
Commercial flights, temporarily diverted to Misrata (200 km east) resumed Wednesday morning, according to the press service of Mitiga airport, Tripoli’s only civilian airport.
OPSGroup, an aviation industry chamber, said Monday that a large number of planes departed the capital due to the violence. Arriving flights were diverted to the nearby city of Misrata.
On Tuesday, the U.N. mission in Libya and the embassies of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy and the European Union called for an “immediate de-escalation” and for “preserving the progress made in recent years in the security field.”
A researcher from Human Rights Watch, Hanan Saleh, deplored the fact that civilian areas are once again the scene of fighting and affirmed that nothing will change as long as there are “no consequences” for those responsible for the militias.
At the end of May, the two groups clashed in the city center, causing minor injuries.
In July and August 2022, clashes between the Rada Force and other groups caused some fifty deaths in Tripoli.
The oil-rich country has been divided between rival governments in the east and west, each supported by heavily armed militias and foreign governments, since 2014. The state of upheaval has persisted since a NATO-backed insurgency overthrew and killed dictator Moamar Qaddafi.