Libya.. 11 dead and 27 wounded in clashes between two military forces and Dabaiba arrests the Minister of the Interior

Eleven people were killed, including 3 civilians, and 27 others were wounded in nighttime clashes east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, between the deterrence apparatus and a military force affiliated with the Presidential Council. clashes.

Calm returned to the central and southern areas of the Libyan capital, after night clashes - yesterday, Thursday - between the two conflicting forces, in addition to damage to residents' homes and cars.

A security source told Anatolia, preferring not to be identified, that the reason for the clashes was the Presidential Guard's kidnapping of a colonel belonging to the deterrence apparatus, without details.

There was no indication that the clashes were related to the political problems between the Dabaiba government and the government that rivals it headed by Fathi Bashagha, but the two sides have the support of armed factions that control areas in the capital and other Libyan cities in the west of the country.

Prime Minister Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba suspends Interior Minister Khaled Mazen and assigns Local Government Minister Badr al-Din al-Toumi to run the ministry's tasks until the investigations are completed.

— Emad Fathi E.Fathi (@emad_badish) July 22, 2022

Osama Ali, a spokesman for the (government) ambulance and emergency service, said that among the dead in the armed confrontations was a child, adding that the confrontations affected the neighborhoods of Al-Furnaj, Al-Sabaa, Al-Mashtal Road and Ain Zara.

Social networking sites circulated video clips showing an exchange of fire with light and medium weapons, and military convoys moving with their equipment, while clips were broadcast of women in a wedding hall located in the area asking to be removed with their children from the vicinity of the clashes.

Population panic

The clashes in the eastern neighborhoods of Tripoli - shortly after midnight on Thursday - sparked panic among the residents in crowded streets and parks on a hot summer night.

Anadolu Agency reported that the 444th Brigade of the Army Staff intervened to end the clashes as a neutral force, and succeeded in spreading to a number of sites that witnessed confrontations.

In a statement, the Libyan Presidential Council called on all parties to the conflict to cease fire and return to their headquarters immediately, and the Council stated that the Attorney General and the Military Prosecutor, each according to his competence, opened a comprehensive investigation into the causes of the clashes.

The administration of Maitia International Airport has temporarily suspended flights against the backdrop of the ongoing clashes in Tripoli, and has announced its transfer to Misurata International Airport.

🔴 #Tripoli ||..

Direct clashes inside the streets in the capital, Tripoli.# Libya pic.twitter.com/rNDZ3VdBXH

— Mountain Hunter (@salaaah62) July 21, 2022

Meshri Williams

The head of the High Council of State in Libya, Khaled Al-Mashri, agreed with Stephanie Williams - the special advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations - to condemn any kind of use of force or violence, and the need for the executive authority to control the security situation.

This came in a meeting between Al-Mashri and Williams in Tripoli, where they discussed the security situation in the capital, which is witnessing armed clashes in the Sabaa area, east of the city.

The United Nations Mission in Libya called for an investigation into the events in Tripoli, calling on all parties to exercise the utmost restraint.

Oil-rich Libya is experiencing a political division and a power struggle between two governments, one of which is the Fathi Pashaga government, which was assigned by the House of Representatives in early March, and the National Unity Government headed by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, which refuses to hand over power except to a government that comes through an elected parliament.