Libya: The US deplores pro-Haftar’s airstrike against equestrian club
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – The US embassy in Libya has deplored the recent escalation of violence and attacks against civilian infrastructure – including the air strike carried out on Sunday and attributed to the Libyan National Army, commanded by Marshall Khalifa Haftar, against an equestrian club in Janzour, which wounded innocent civilians – in violation of the international humanitarian law.
Six people were wounded in the airstrike. The majority of the victims were children.
"We are determined to work with all parties to end the conflict and give all Libyans the possibility to return to normalcy," the US embassy said on Monday in a tweet.
The UN Support mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said it was "angry with the airstrike", adding that the airstrike wounded a certain number of innocent children and damaged the club’s installations.
UNSMIL said it deployed an evaluation mission to identify the targeted site and the nature of the attack, adding that "the evaluation mission was able to confirm that a fighter jet had dropped four non-guided bombs on the equestrian club, a civilian outfit, and that neither military means nor military infrastructure had been observed on the targeted site".
The UN mission ‘’strongly condemned that horrible attack’’ and reaffirmed that the attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure were serious violations of the international humanitarian law and the international human rights laws and could be war crimes.
The presidential council of the government of national accord in Libya had earlier condemned the air bombardment.
Military escalation has intensified over the past few days, with the multiplication of air bombardments carried out by the Libyan National Army against the governmental positions in the central region of Sirte, Misrata and near Tripoli where the fighting broke out on 4 April.
-0- PANA BY/IS/MSA/VAO 7Oct2019
