Libya .. cautious calm with the end of the humanitarian truce south of Tripoli

The humanitarian truce between the forces of the Libyan National Accord government and the retired Major General Khalifa Hifter ends on Monday on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, amid expectations of a resumption of fighting south of the capital Tripoli at any moment and at a more frequent pace.

Hours before the end of the 48-hour truce, cautious calm prevails in various areas of fighting south of the capital, after several violations by Hifter's forces.

The government of national reconciliation agreed to the truce called for by the United Nations Mission in Libya, before a spokesman for Hifter announced its acceptance.

The truce took effect on Saturday afternoon and is supposed to expire this afternoon. The Accord government confirmed that Hifter's forces violated it at least twice yesterday by bombing the Mitiga airport and the Friday market area.

Shells hit the perimeter of Mitiga airport, the only civilian airport in Tripoli, which necessitated diverting flights to Misrata Airport (200 km east of the capital).

By yesterday evening, Mitiga airport authorities announced the return of traffic after stopping for hours after indiscriminate shells landed in the vicinity. Local sources on the island said some shells landed in the Friday market area adjacent to the airport, wounding a number of civilians.

Since the truce took effect, sources from the Operation Volcano Anger room of the Wefaq government reported breaches including Hifter's attempts to infiltrate some axes south of Tripoli.

She also spoke about reinforcements sent by Hifter forces to the fighting axes south of the capital through the city of Tarhuna. There are expectations that the coming days may witness major military operations in an effort to resolve the two-month-old battle.

On April 4, Hifter's forces launched an offensive in Tripoli, but repeated attempts to invade it failed. The fighting, which includes reciprocal air strikes, has killed at least 1,100 people, including dozens of civilians, as well as major destruction in some southern suburbs of the capital, such as the suburb of Ain Zara.

Benghazi bombing
On the other hand, condemned the Foreign Ministry of the Government of the terrorist bombing that targeted the convoy of the UN mission in the Hawari area of ​​Benghazi (eastern) last Saturday, killing three staff members of the mission.

The Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement that the return of terrorist activities and operations due to the security chaos caused by the attack on Tripoli, and the division of security and military institutions.

The ministry called on the international community to put an end to the aggression against the capital and to return the aggressor forces so that they can return to the political process and work to stop the terrorist activities.

In turn, the UN Security Council strongly condemned what it called the deadly and unacceptable attack on the UN mission in Benghazi, and condemned the bombing and stressed that it will not discourage it from continuing to seek peace in Libya.

The Security Council held an emergency session yesterday to discuss the situation in Libya at the invitation of France and Russia.

Pinto Keita, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, described the Benghazi bombing as a terrible one, saying the bombing took place in an area supposedly under full security control by Hifter's forces.

The Security Council praised the agreement of the parties to the conflict in Libya on a two-day humanitarian truce south of Tripoli.