By RFIPalled on 09-04-2019Modified on 09-04-2019 at 23:26

Since Thursday, April 4, Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of eastern Libya has launched an offensive. These clashes are aimed at Tripoli which houses the headquarters of the national unity government, supported by the international community. The toll of this violence has increased: the fighting killed 47 people according to the World Health Organization.

The fighting concentrated on two localities close to the capital. Difficult to evaluate which faction takes over. Some sources describe a volatile situation: " There is a myriad of armed groups who defend their own interests, all with heavy weapons ", about fifteen kilometers from Tripoli, said a source. Both sides are engaged in a communication war on social networks. Each staff feels they are making " progress " on the ground.

On Monday night, the battle was concentrated around a strategic point, the Mitiga airport, located in the eastern suburbs of the city, on which forces loyal to Marshal Haftar launched an air raid . The attack did not kill, but the site was evacuated. On Tuesday, the airport was reopened, only at night flights.

In parallel with the armed conflict, there were verbal games. Diplomatically, convictions and calls to stop violence are increasing. Michele Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urges all parties to respect " their obligation under international law to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure ".

As a result of the fighting, UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salamé announced on Tuesday the postponement of the national interlibrary conference scheduled for 14-16 April in the center-west of the country.

Who are the forces that control Tripoli?

Four major militias control the Libyan capital, according to the researchers. Armed groups that fought Muammar Khadafi in 2011, established in Tripoli since.

According to Libyan scholar Jalel Harchaoui, the revolutionary and Islamist ideology that characterized these groups has gradually faded to the benefit of leaders without political ideology, but exclusively interested in the control of financial resources in the capital.

► What are the ambitions of Marshal Haftar?

It is in the name of access to these resources and the possibility of getting rich that these militias have always tolerated the government of national unity more than they support it.

But until recently, these militias offered a particularly fragmented face, divided with recurring conflicts between them. A deal that suddenly changed with the offensive launched by the strong man of the east of the country last Thursday.

In the face of Marshal Haftar's attack, these groups formed a new and fairly effective common front. It remains to be seen how long this union of circumstance will hold in this power struggle around the control of the wealthy Tripoli.

The military and security power that manages to protect Tripoli is a set of four major militias.

Jalel Harchaoui, teacher-researcher at Paris VIII University, specialist in Libya

09-04-2019 - By Léa-Lisa Westerhoff

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