Fighting broke out between Libyan armed factions in Tripoli’s western suburbs as forces aligned with the Government of National Unity (GNU) under Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba further consolidated their control of the capital. Clashes on Friday and early Saturday took place in Warshafala, a district west of Tripoli that has been the site of repeated clashes during the 11 chaotic years since longtime Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a Nato-backed uprising. In 2014, Libya was divided between rival administrations based in the east and west of the country, each backed by a range of militias and several regional powers. Oil production in Libya, a boon for the warring groups, has been repeatedly cut off. The power struggle in Libya pitted the Tripoli-based GNU against a rival administration under Fathi Bashaga supported by the eastern parliament. The clashes, along with a large pro-Dbeibah group taking over a military headquarters in southern Tripoli, come at the end of Libya’s longest war in two years. On Friday and in the early hours of Saturday, witnesses said, mortars were fired into Varsafana, a district of farmland, villages and parts of urban sprawl between Tripoli and the western city of Zawiya. During last week’s clashes, a major Basaga-aligned faction based in Zawiya was said to be among the groups pushed back from the outskirts of the capital. In Tripoli’s southern Ain Zara district, a powerful faction that supported al-Dabaiba during last week’s fighting took over a security headquarters. Fighter jets and vehicles bearing his insignia were on guard there on Saturday morning with checkpoints set up nearby. The standoff between al-Dabaiba and Bashagha had been going on for months, with Libya’s powerful eastern faction lining up behind the latter, which is backed by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, while the numerous factions that control Tripoli and the rest of the northwest were divided. After last week’s fighting, Bashagha and al-Dabaiba visited Turkey, which has helped the now-divided western factions face an eastern attack in 2020. Turkey maintains a military presence around Tripoli, including drones that could play a critical role in deciding the outcome of any major war if it decides to back a side. Last week, there were unconfirmed reports that drones were being used against factions supporting Bashagha. Diplomacy to resolve the crisis in Libya has faltered. Late Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed a new envoy to Libya. Former Senegalese minister and UN diplomat Abdoulaye Bathily replaces Jan Kubis, who resigned in December. Guterres had informally proposed two other people to fill the role, but the Security Council could not agree on them.
