File image.
Heavy clashes broke out in the southern districts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after the killing of a powerful militia leader late on May 12, with authorities imposing a curfew.
Libyan media reported that Abdel Ghani al-Kikli, widely known as “Gheniwa”, who is the head of the powerful Stability Support Authority (SSA) militia, was killed inside the Takbali military camp in southern Tripoli after a dispute with other militia leaders.
The SAA, one of the most powerful militia groups in Tripoli, is backed by the Presidential Council, which came to power in 2021 with the GNU of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah through a United Nations-recognized process.
The Misrata-based Combined Joint Task Force, a faction of the Libyan Army commanded by the internationally-recognized GNU, and Syrian mercenaries, who were brought to Libya in 2020 by Turkey, were reportedly behind the killing of Gheniwa.
Videos posted to social networks showed convoys rushing to the capital, gunmen at Mitiga International Airport, as well as heavy gun fire and fires.
Deputy Minister of Transport Wissam Al-Idrisi confirmed the temporary suspension of air traffic at Mitiga. However, airport director Ibrahim Farkash claimed that air operations remained technically unaffected and “airspace is safe and open.”
The GNU’s Ministry of Internal Affairs urged residents to stay home and avoid movement, warning of further instability, Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education suspended classes across Tripoli on May 13, citing the deteriorating security situation.
Later, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said that it was “alarmed by the unfolding security situation in Tripoli with intense fighting with heavy weaponry in densely populated civilian areas.”
“The Mission calls on all parties to immediately cease fighting and restore calm, and reminds all parties of their obligations to protect civilians at all times,” the mission said in a post to the X social network, noting that “attacks on civilians and civilian objects may amount to war crimes.”
The Libyan Ambulance Service announced that at least six people were wounded as a result of the clashes in southern Tripoli.
Early on May 13, the GNU’s media platform said that the Ministry of Defense had fully taken control of the Abu Salim neighborhood. However, tensions remained high in the capital.
Libya plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country is now split between the GNU in Tripoli, which is supported by an array of militia groups and Syrian mercenaries, and a rival government based in Benghazi backed by the House of Representatives and the Libyan National Army.
The GNU has been especially struggling in brining in military groups in Tripoli and the rest of western Libya under control. Efforts to reunify and integrate the groups have repeatedly failed.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
i knew that terrorism from syria would spread to neighboring countries.erdogan’s terrorist cell nested and hatched.
maybe erdogan’s terrorism will spread to china, and maybe erdogan’s minions will kill xi jinping.
i hope will so, because it might make for a better leader for china, who would be drop a few atomic bombs on damascus and a few on idlib.
i fear that the terrorist muslim brotherhood will kill sisi because it would mean the destruction of the copts in egypt.
damn traitors putler and the ass ad.
these two people are worse than all animals, including worms and rats.
pray to the devil for haftar’s rule, so that erdogan’s mafia doesn’t overthrow him.
but you pray to god even if the vatican replaced one protector of pedophiles with another protector of pedophiles. you really can’t rely on that pig putler, and haftar could easily be beheaded by erdogan’s gangs.
skripal said that putler was a pedophile bastard who liked to fuck little boys.
animais não. são piores que você e sua imunda, amaldiçoada, imunda e desgraçada família.
i agree that putler is one big rotten, short-tempered jewish scumbag.
well done you libyan morons just like the syrian head hackers you have managed to reduce your countries to a mad max theme park.
but libya was a rich country that, unlike syria, had prospects and a future. if the respected mr. bassel al-assad had led the country, syria would still have tourism revenues and happy people. so, everything that resembled a human either ran away or died, and all that was left were pigs and scumbags, and i pray to god that the tectonic plates will shift and swallow this waste of a country.
pujs putler didn’t save gaddafi, who was worth it, but he did save his own gay lover (the ass ad) last year.
lord god, please allow mr. gaddafi 2 to take over libya, because now there is only a thiefs, terrorists and human traffickers there. i have no more hope for syria, and so i ask you, lord god, to move the tectonic plates and put it under the sea.