Libya Foreign Ministry: ‘We aim to extend control over entire country’

The Libyan government announced on Thursday that it aims to extend security control over the entire country, to manage the political process with those who “believe in a democratic civil state”.

This came in a tweet published by the Libyan Foreign Ministry Spokesman Muhammad Al-Qiblawi, reposted by the ministry’s official Twitter account, without further details.

Earlier on Thursday, the Libyan army of the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), declared taking full control of the city of Asbi’ah (100 kilometres southwest of the capital of Tripoli), after clashes with militants of the coupist Major General Khalifa Haftar.

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Haftar’s militias have been continuously suffering heavy losses as a result of harsh strikes in all cities of the western coast, up to the country’s border with Tunisia, in addition to the strategic Al-Wattia airbase, and the cities of Badr and Tiji.

The liberation of Al-Wattia airbase (140 kilometres southwest of Tripoli) on Monday, is the second fall of a major operations room of Haftar’s militias in the western region, after the fall of the city of Gharyan in June.

Since 4 April, 2019, Haftar’s militias have launched a faltering attack to take control over Tripoli, the headquarters of the GNA, targeting residential neighborhoods and civilian sites, killing and injuring civilians and causing vast material damages.