Libyan cities of Benghazi and Tripoli edge closer to civil war
Special forces join renegade's battle against Islamists as nation edges closer to civil war and parliament is urged to take a recess
An elite Libyan unit joined a renegade general to battle Islamists in the east as rising lawlessness in the nation's two largest cities edges it closer to civil war.
The government posted an open letter on its website suggesting that the General National Congress or parliament "take a recess" as a way out of the crisis. Gunmen had stormed the GNC - which has a strong Islamist component - in southern Tripoli on Sunday, two days after retired General Khalifa Hifter launched his anti-Islamist offensive in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Colonel Wanis Abu Khamada, commander of an elite army unit, announced on Monday that his troops would join Hifter's operation targeting Islamist militias in the North African nation's second city.
With the interim authorities failing to build a regular army and police, militias have ruled the roost since ousting long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi. It was in Benghazi that the uprising erupted in 2011.
After Sunday's attack on parliament, a colonel claiming to speak on behalf of the army declared that the GNC had been suspended.