TRIPOLI: At least 16 people were killed and 52 wounded in fighting between armed groups in Tripoli, the health ministry said Saturday, following the latest politically driven violence to hit the Libyan capital.
The fighting began on Thursday night and extended into Friday afternoon. The toll revises up an earlier figure of 13, including three civilians, provided by the ambulance service.
The clashes were between two armed groups with major clout in the west of the war-torn country: the Al-Radaa force and the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade.
Several sources said one group’s detention of a fighter belonging to the other had sparked the fighting, which extended to several districts of the capital.
On Friday, another group called the 444 Brigade intervened to mediate a truce, deploying its own forces in a buffer zone before they too came under heavy fire, an AFP photographer reported.
“All the wounded received medical care in hospitals” in Tripoli, the health ministry said in a statement.
It did not provide an update on how many civilians were among the dead.
Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah’s government suspended interior minister Khaled Mazen after the fighting, replacing him on an interim basis with Bader Eddine Al-Toumi, the local government minister.
Mitiga, the capital’s sole functioning airport, was closed for several hours on Friday before it reopened late in the day.
Libya has been gripped by insecurity since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, leaving a power vacuum armed groups have been wrangling for years to fill.
Tensions have been rising for months in Libya as two prime ministers vie for power, raising fears of renewed conflict two years after a landmark truce ended a ruinous attempt by eastern military chief Khalifa Haftar to seize Tripoli by force.
The dead were the first civilian casualties of fighting in Tripoli since the 2020 truce.
Both groups involved in this week’s fighting are nominally loyal to Dbeibah’s Government of National Unity, appointed last year as part of a United Nations-backed peace process.
Dbeibah has refused to cede power to Fathi Bashagha, named in February as prime minister by a parliament based in Libya’s east after he made a pact with Haftar.
Libya militia clashes kill at least 16: health ministry
https://arab.news/pk2yt
Libya militia clashes kill at least 16: health ministry
- Clashes erupted near the junction of the main coastal highway leading to Tripoli
EU chief von der Leyen says Europe to do ‘everything it can’ to support Syria
- “Europe will do everything it can to support Syria’s recovery and reconstruction,” von der Leyen said
- A Syrian presidency statement said the two sides discussed cooperation, including on reconstruction
DAMASCUS: European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Europe would do everything possible to assist Syria’s recovery and reconstruction, after meeting President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Friday in Damascus.
Von der Leyen, the highest-ranking EU official to visit since longtime ruler Bashar Assad was ousted in December 2024, is on a regional tour alongside Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council.
Their visit comes as days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have rocked the north Syrian city of Aleppo.
“Europe will do everything it can to support Syria’s recovery and reconstruction,” von der Leyen said on X.
A Syrian presidency statement said the two sides discussed cooperation, including on reconstruction, as well as “humanitarian matters and the refugee issue in Europe.”
On Thursday, a joint EU-Jordan statement issued on the eve of the EU leaders’ arrival in Damascus said that “we will continue working together in support of a peaceful and inclusive Syrian-led and Syrian-owned transition.”
Syria is struggling to forge a new path after years of war sparked by a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011.
Sharaa, who is seeking to extend state authority across the whole country, has come under pressure to protect Syria’s many minority communities, including the Kurds.
Several EU officials have visited Syria since Assad’s ouster by Sharaa’s forces more than a year ago, and the EU has removed economic sanctions in place under Assad.
In March, the EU pledged nearly 2.5 billion euros in aid for Syria for 2025 and 2026.
Von der Leyen and Costa were also visiting Lebanon on Friday.
