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Libya: Clashes continue in Tripoli with deaths reported

July 25, 2022 at 9:03 am

Damaged cars are seen after conflict between two armed groups in Tripoli, Libya on 22 July 2022 [Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Agency]

A Libyan security source said that the clashes in the capital Tripoli, which began on Thursday night and resumed on Friday, are continuing despite the efforts of Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, to stop them.

In a statement to Anadolu Agency, the security official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that “the clashes are now taking place at a less intense pace.” Adding that they are “continuing despite the fact their cause has vanished.”

He added that the cause of the clashes “was the arrest of Colonel Issam Ayyad Harous, who is affiliated with the Special Deterrence Force, by the Presidential Council’s security force,” stressing that the problem was “resolved when he was released after Dbeibeh’s intervention.”

The matter has now moved in from Harous’ arrest, the official said, and the clashes now circle around the deaths which have been caused as a result.

On Friday, thirteen deaths were reported as a result of the clashes in Tripoli between forces from the Presidential Council’s security force and another from the Special Deterrence Force. Thirty people were injured, according to Osama Ali, the spokesman of the Ambulance System, who confirmed that child were among the dead.

“The administration of Mitiga International Airport is currently conducting evacuations of planes from the civil airport for fear of being hit as a result of the continuing clashes.”

The airport administration also announced on Friday “the suspension of air traffic”, while the University of Tripoli announced, on its Facebook page, the suspension of study and all exams on Saturday.

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