A number of civilians were killed and injured in the indiscriminate shelling of Grad rockets fired by the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar in the central areas of Tripoli, while the Libyan President of the Presidential Council, Fayez al-Sarraj, received communications from French and Italian officials.

Libyan sources reported that five people - including children - were killed and 12 others were wounded by Grad rockets that landed on a public park, Mansoura residential area, and a cemetery of a foreign embassy in the center of the capital, Tripoli.

The fall of these missiles coincided with the intensification of clashes in the vicinity of Tripoli International Airport, in which the forces of the retired Major General Khalifa Haftar holed up large numbers of mortars in an attempt to prevent the reconciliation forces fighters from storming the airport.

A military source said that Al-Wefaq forces are seeking to clamp down on Haftar's forces in the axes located in and around the airport, and force them to withdraw to the Qasr Bin Ghashir area, the last stronghold of Haftar's forces in Tripoli.

Haftar's forces have launched an attack on the capital, Tripoli, for more than a year, but they have suffered losses in the past weeks that led to their retreat south of the capital, in addition to losing cities and towns in western Libya.

Politically

On the political level, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Lauderian discussed with President of the Presidency Council Fayez al-Sarraj the situation in Libya.

Discussions focused - according to a statement by the French Foreign Ministry - on the need to work towards a speedy cessation of hostilities.

The two sides also discussed the relaunching of the political process within the framework set by the Berlin Conference, and an end to all foreign interference in Libya.

Ludryan called for the necessity of the immediate resumption of negotiations within the framework of the "5 + 5" committee, and a ceasefire based on the agreement of February 23 under the auspices of the United Nations.

This came after a call by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who assured Al-Sarraj of the importance of expediting the appointment of a new United Nations envoy in Libya, and expressed his country's concern about the continued external sources to send weapons there.

Conti demanded a return to the political track in accordance with Security Council resolutions and the outputs of the Berlin Conference.

He also said that deciding the future of Libya should be with the Libyans alone, and not with foreign hands, and he called for the return of Libyan oil production.

For his part, Al-Sarraj confirmed that the flow of weapons to Haftar's forces did not stop, but rather increased in the recent period.

In this context, the official spokesman for the Egyptian presidency said that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron affirmed - in a telephone call - their complete desire to end the Libyan crisis by reaching a political solution that paves the way for the return of security and stability in the country.

In turn, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Qalan affirmed his country's keenness to achieve stability in Libya, and its standing by the government of reconciliation in Tripoli, calling on the House of Representatives in Tobruk to end its support for General Haftar.

Aqila Saleh initiative

In a related context, said a member of the House of Representatives in Tobruk Miloud Al-Aswad that the Skhirat agreement is an international agreement, and that the initiative of Aqila Saleh did not go beyond its framework.

Al-Aswad said that the initiative was not signed by everyone, but he added - in a previous meeting with Al-Jazeera - that it does not exclude anyone, and contains positive points that can be established on it, stressing that efforts are continuing to achieve peace.

Members of the House of Representatives, held in Tobruk, previously issued a statement calling for the rejection of discord and division, and for preserving the social fabric and cohesion between the people of the homeland.

The statement also called on Libyans and political parties to preserve the national constants, and demanded that the blood of Libyans be injected and that this be considered a top priority that everyone should strive to achieve.

Members of the House of Representatives demanded that measures be taken to secure this, from a cease-fire, disengagement and commitment to a return to dialogue to form a new executive authority that would be built on the basis of structuring a presidential council of a president, two deputies, a prime minister, and a national unity government.

They emphasized that the weapon must be in the hands of the state’s institutions alone, and that it cannot be used to impose a fait accompli.