The battle for Tripoli: at least 220 killed in Libyan capital fighting in just 2 weeks

Fighting between rival Libyan forces for control of Tripoli escalated in the past couple of days, a spokesman for the self-styled Libyan National Army said Saturday, as the death toll rose to at least 220, including combatants and civilians, since the LNA declared a major military offensive to take the capital earlier this month.

Fighting erupted April 5 pitting the LNA, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter and aligned with a rival government in the east, against militias affiliated with Tripoli’s UN-supported government.

Ahmed al-Mesmari, LNA spokesman, told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi that heavy clashes have been underway between his forces and rival militias in the towns of Swany and al-Aziziya, south of Tripoli, which Hifter’s forces seized earlier this month.

He said militias allied with the UN-supported government launched air strikes on the Alwatya airbase, southwest of Tripoli. There were also air strikes on the town of Gherian, he said.

Residents in Tripoli said Hifter’s forces seem to be making small progress and gains on the ground. They said fighting has been ongoing in residential areas, a few kilometres south of Tripoli. Both sides have used heavy artillery and air strikes, they said.

The residents spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.