Panafrican News Agency

Libya: Cautious calm on fighting fronts near Tripoli

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - A cautious calm prevails since Friday on the fighting fronts in the outskirts of Tripoli after violent clashes on Wednesday and Thursday in Ghariane, 80 km southwest of the Libyan capital, because an offensive by the  National Army was repelled by troops loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA).

The town of Ghariane was recaptured on 27 June by the GNA forces from the Libyan National Army (LNA), which had made it a rear base for its logistics, staff and the military operation launched on 4 April to take control of Tripoli.

"All fighting areas around the capital have experienced a lull since Friday morning",  a source close to the LNA operations room led by  Marshal Khalifa Haftar said, adding that the airforce had conducted several strikes on Thursday evening against government positions in Wadi Al-Rabi and Ain Zara south of Tripoli.

This relative lull in fighting is the calm that precedes the storm, according to observers who reported mobilization of troops and planning to go on the offensive against cities in the West by both sides.

Continuation of the Tripoli war has raised serious concerns and fears, including from the United Nations, whose Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently warned in a report that Libya could be tipped into a civil war if these clashes persist.

At the political level, the initiative of the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in Libya, Ghassan Salamé, has received support from the G7 at its last Summit in France, endorsing the crisis exit plan.

The G7 decided agreed to the international meeting that will bring together regional and international actors and which will be prepared in Paris, France and Berlin, Germany, while the inter-Libyan meeting will be headed by the African Union and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSML).

Hopes are pinned on these two meetings to which all eyes are turned in order to get Libya out of the circle of violence that has shaken it for more than eight years after the 17 February 2011  revolution that overthrew the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

According to analysts, the key to the solution of the Libyan crisis is in the hands of foreign powers that have influence over the warring parties. It requires greater political will to find a way out of the conflict while the impact of the crisis is increasingly  felt in neighbouring countries and in many parts of the world.

-0- PANA BY/IS/BBA/AR 31Aug2019