The Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Minister of Defense, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, ordered the Military Prosecutor, Major General Massoud Arhouma, to expedite the ongoing investigation related to the clashes south of Tripoli.

This came during his meeting with the Military Prosecutor, the day after clashes took place in the Salah El-Din area (south of Tripoli), according to a statement by the media office of Dabaiba.

Dabaiba called - according to the statement - to expedite the ongoing investigation related to the clashes that took place in Salah al-Din yesterday, Friday, as well as to take the necessary legal measures.

Clashes broke out in the early hours of Friday in the Libyan capital between the "444th Brigade" and the so-called "Stability Support Force", in the fiercest clashes in Tripoli since the fighting between the internationally recognized Government of National Accord forces and the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar stopped a year ago.

The Libyan Interior Ministry called on all security sectors to exercise restraint and not be drawn into fighting.

And the ministry announced - in a statement issued against the background of the clashes - that it had given instructions to all its forces not to engage in the fighting and undermine the security of the capital, and urged them to give priority to the language of reason over the language of weapons.

The statement added that the fighting that Tripoli witnessed undermines the political process and creates security challenges at this sensitive stage.

The ministry affirmed its commitment to work tirelessly to bring the Libyans to the due elections scheduled for next December, and stressed the need to support the unity government and rally around it.

On Friday, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya expressed its concern about these clashes, and stressed the need to initiate the process of disarmament, reintegration, security sector reform, and bringing all weapons under state control.

Sabha people

The people of the city of Sabha in southern Libya demanded that the Libyan authorities and the UN mission expel the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar from the city.

This came in a video statement yesterday evening, Friday, in response to the incident of closing the airspace at Sebha Airport.

Last Monday, Haftar's forces closed the airspace in Sebha to prevent the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Manfi, from visiting the city.

The people of Sebha called on the Presidential Council, the Prime Minister and the UN mission to "withdraw all illegal forces affiliated with the eastern region."

The residents accused Haftar's forces of trying to "control the cities of the south to impose a political agenda that serves some people and does not serve the country."

They also demanded "to hand over all land and air ports to the Sebha City Security Directorate."

He warned the people not to engage in armed confrontations with Haftar's forces if their demands were not met, according to the statement.

Since April 2019, the city of Sebha and some areas of southern Libya have been under the control of Haftar.

Months ago, Libya witnessed a political breakthrough;

On March 16, an elected transitional authority - comprising a national unity government and a presidential council - assumed its duties to lead the country to parliamentary and presidential elections next December.