A humanitarian crisis exacerbates after the escalation of clashes south of Tripoli

Mahmoud Mohamed - Tripoli

The humanitarian crisis in Tripoli is exacerbated after the escalation of armed clashes in the south of the city, and the announcement of cities in the west of the country as the extreme case of defending the capital.

The forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar intensified their shelling of civilian areas and residential neighborhoods in the capital after Haftar launched what he called "the zero hour" to enter Tripoli.

Haftar forces continue to target several areas south of Tripoli, including Salah al-Din, Al-Khalah, Al-Sawani, Wadi Al-Rabi`, and the Al-Hadba project, which has been under heavy artillery bombardment for two days.

Human rights organizations are monitoring a rise in the number of IDPs from the clashes areas south of Tripoli after the arrival of indiscriminate shells fired by Haftar forces to areas densely populated with civilians.

Escalation of attacks
The head of the Crisis and Emergency Committee of the Ministry of Health of the Government of Accord, Fawzi Onis, confirmed that Haftar’s two activists are stepping up their attacks on populated areas and neighborhoods, resulting in civilian casualties due to the indiscriminate firing of shells that fall heavily at the population.

Onis told Al-Jazeera Net that "a civilian was killed in the Salah Al-Din area, and a mother and a little girl were wounded by shrapnel, and a worker of Sudanese nationality was injured in the area."

Onis reported that, on Tuesday, field hospitals received 25 wounded people as a result of armed confrontations in the Togar and Yarmouk hubs.

Civilians are fleeing
The head of the National Human Rights Commission in Libya, Ahmed Hamza, considered the expansion of clashes and indiscriminate shelling of heavy weapons, leading to a widening of the geographical area from which innocent IDPs are fleeing to safer areas.

Hamzah added, "Our monitored IDP population has reached more than 160,000 people who have fled the areas of clashes since the start of the military campaign last April, for fear of targeting them and preserving their lives and safety, and this statistic increases when any new attacks."

Hamza said that the recent escalation had exacerbated the humanitarian situation in the capital, deteriorating living conditions, and the collapse of basic services in areas close to the clashes, which would lead to a high death toll of 300 civilian victims, including children, elderly women and women, and hundreds of wounded since the start of the military campaign against Tripoli.

Hamza continued to Al-Jazeera Net, "Tripoli is suffering from a major humanitarian crisis and is on the verge of a major humanitarian catastrophe as a result of the continuing violence and war, which is entering its tenth month in a row without regard to any humanitarian considerations."

Hamza called on the United Nations and its agencies to lift the humanitarian support provided to the displaced and work to improve their humanitarian conditions, calling on the crisis committee in the Government of Conciliation to work to address the humanitarian consequences of the displacement and provide places designated for sheltering the displaced.

Hope diverges
On the reality of the displacement, citizen Mohammed Abdel Qader Al-Nazer from Khlet Al-Furjan region talks that the escalation of the recent clashes south of Tripoli disturbs his hope to return with his family to his home.

"We do not want humanitarian aid, we want to return to our homes from which we have been displaced and do not know now whether it is destroyed or not," Abdul Qadir added to Al Jazeera Net.

Abdel Qader explained that the support of humanitarian aid and supplies by the crisis committee of the Al-Wefaq government and local organizations decreased a lot during the last period after a relative calm in the armed clashes and some residents tried to return to areas secured by the forces of the national reconciliation government, but they were struck by the rise of indiscriminate shells falling on the population, which led to They are displaced again.

Abdel Qader stressed that international humanitarian organizations have abandoned the displaced in Libya, just as the international community has abandoned the right of the Libyans to establish a stable state.