Libya .. United Nations warns of turning the country into a "weapons testing field"

The United Nations today warned Libya against turning into a "testing ground for all types of new weapons", while the Al-Wefaq government renewed its rejection of the European military surveillance mission to supply weapons to Libya.

Stephanie Williams, the acting UN envoy to Libya, told an online news conference that weapons from abroad had fueled the new wave of fighting in the country.

"We have something called the Pro-E flamethrower, which is a type of thermal system used in the southern outskirts of Tripoli, and we have new drones transported there, including a droning plane that is more like a suicide plane plane that explodes on impact," Williams added.

"These are just two examples of very frightening systems being deployed on an urban site, which is totally unacceptable," the UN official said.

Nerve gas
and concerns about the possibility of the conflict entering a new dangerous turning point emerged yesterday, Wednesday, when the Minister of the Interior of the internationally recognized Al-Wefaq government, Fathi Pashaga, said that the forces of the Russian Wagens Company fighting alongside the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Hifter used nerve gas against the Al-Wefaq forces in the Salah al-Din axis South of the capital Tripoli.

In a letter to Reuters, Pashaga added that the reports of the fighters' injury with nerve gas in the Salah al-Din suburb are based on initial reports from field hospitals, and that the government is investigating, and will wait for the final report before the United Nations Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is informed of the incident.

On the other hand, Haftar forces spokesman, Ahmed Al-Mesmari, said in a statement that the report, which talked about the possibility of using chemical weapons, was "rumors and lies."

Al-Sarraj's message
In a related context, Al-Wefaq Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj said in a message to the UN Security Council that his government rejects the European Union's plan to monitor the arms embargo to Libya.

The European Union’s security and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced last month the launch of an operation called Bassim to monitor the arms embargo to Libya and support the political track. The Al-Wefaq government expressed its dissatisfaction with the European decision because it did not include control over the supply of arms to Haftar forces by land and air.

On the field level, a military source in the Al-Wefaq government forces said that Al-Wefaq forces had made progress in the Al-Toesha and Ramleh axes south of Tripoli, and forced Haftar's forces to retreat from their positions. Al-Wefaq and Haftar forces exchange artillery shelling in the remaining fighting axes south of Tripoli, and the vicinity of Tarhuna City and Abu Qurain, east of the city of Misurata, with each side maintaining its positions.

The Tabu requested
In a separate context, the Tabu tribes in the city of Murzuq, southwest of Libya, called on local and international human rights organizations to help them uncover the truth of what the city was subjected to months before the bombing and killing of its sons by the forces of Khalifa Haftar.

The Tabu tribes, in a statement, rejected the settlements, which they described as suspicious and vague, referring to an Emirati settlement proposal to address the violations of Abu Dhabi and Haftar forces against the Tabu, regardless of legal methods and in secret.