New reports suggest forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Unity (GNA) have made progress in areas which were previously under the control of the Libyan National Army (LNA) loyal to Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The GNA launched a violent attack against LNA in the south of the capital Tripoli on Saturday. Heavy and medium weapons were clearly heard in different parts of the capital in the areas that clashes broke out in the early hours of Saturday.
According to Colonel Mohammed Gannouno, the spokesman for GNA, the forces managed to take control of new locations from the LNA forces, specifically in the area of Ain Zara. He added the GNA forces destroyed several armed vehicles belonging to the LNA in various axes during the advance of the forces south of Tripoli, reported Africa News.
The GNA forces have also claimed that they continue to advance at the airport military front rushing Haftar’s forces farther away.
“The progress came after targeting pro-Haftar positions through heavy artillery,” the GNA forces said in a Saturday statement.
In related news, two car bomb explosions targeted a military unit in Libya’s eastern coastal city of Derna on Sunday. At least 18 people were injured in the blasts.
Residents said the car bombs targeted a military unit called Bulahati belonging to the eastern forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the city center. Derna was declared to be under the complete control of Khalifa Haftar’s LNA in June 2018.
The Libyan eastern commander Haftar’s LNA raged a war against fighters loyal to Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj’s Government of National Accord in early April to take over the capital.
Last week, the United Nations refugee agency confirmed a total of 149 Africans in Libya were evacuated to Italy. The refugees were from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
