In Tripoli, air traffic has been suspended once again at Mitiga International Airport due to its incessant bombing, a statement on the airport’s Facebook page says.
Seven members of a family have been injured, when a shell fired by Haftar’s militias hit their house in Ain Zara area, the Field Medicine and Support Center has confirmed.
On the international level, the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, linked the ongoing armed conflict between the Syrian regime and Turkish forces in Idlib, Syria, with the situation in Libya.
The League of Arab States has renewed its call for a permanent and complete ceasefire in Libya.
SEBHA
- a spokesman for the Joint Security Room in Sebha Ali al-Tershani confirmed that an ISIS leader who was planning terrorist operations in the area had been arrested by units of the Libyan National Army. “A security operation was carried out in Sebha that resulted in the arrest of a Sudanese terrorist named Omar Fadel al-Saeed Muhammad al-Amin, aka Abu Abdullah, who also was a doctor for the terrorist organization,” Al-Tershani added in a press statement [Address Libya, 01.03.2020].
TRIPOLI
- seven members of a family have been injured, when a shell fired by Haftar’s militias hit their house in Ain Zara area, the Field Medicine and Support Center has confirmed. The center disclosed via Facebook that a 3-year-old girl was among those wounded, noting that the girl is receiving treatment at the hospital [Libya Observer, 01.03.2020];
- heavy fighting and rocket attacks renewed in Tripoli and its southern fronts on February 28 and 29, a big blow to the UN mission as it tries to reach a lasting ceasefire in the country. The fresh escalation started early on February 28 with tens of rockets being fired into Mitiga Airport and nearby residential areas by Haftar’s armed groups [Libya Observer, 01.03.2020];
- militias of the “National Accord” government announced that they had started on February 29 heavy artillery shelling on locations in the densely populated neighborhood of Souq al-Jum’aa in Tripoli. According to local sources from the Souq al-Jum’aa neighborhood, grad missiles have landed on the homes of citizens in the neighborhood and caused several material damages [Address Libya, 29.02.2020];
- the Libyan National Army (LNA) announced on February 29 afternoon its complete control of the road linking Tripoli, and the city of Gharyan. It also managed to make progress in the Aziziya and Hira areas, as well as controlling Al-Akrami military camp in Hira south of Tripoli. Well-informed sources reported that violent clashes erupted between LNA forces and the forces affiliated with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), in Warshaffana south-west Tripoli. Reports also said LNA forces managed to foil an ISIS plan to target areas in Sebha in the south of the country [Address Libya, 29.02.2020];
- the Ninth Brigade of the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces managed to shoot down on February 27 a reconnaissance drone for the militias allied with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), over Al-Rawajeh area near Al-Qarabulli east of Tripoli. The shooting down of the drone came while it was flying for taking pictures of the concentrations of the 9th brigade stationed in Al-Rawajeh [Address Libya, 28.02.2020];
- 5 family members were killed on February 27 as a result of targeting their car by a Turkish drone in the Al-Rawajeh area near Al-Qarabulli east of Tripoli, confirmed the Spokesman of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Major General Ahmed al-Mismari. [Address Libya, 28.02.2020];
- the Libyan National Army announced the killing of at least 7 Turkish soldiers in shelling by its forces on the Mitiga Airbase in Tripoli on February 26 evening. The LNA’s Military Information Department said that “the army bombed the Turkish officers’ operation room at the Mitiga Airbase in Tripoli, on February 26 early morning, hours after it shot down a Turkish drone, south of the city.” The Department confirmed the presence of Turkish officers the moment the room was bombed, “especially since the Turkish soldiers are responsible for operating the Turkish drones of Bayrakdar” [Address Libya, 28.02.2020];
- air traffic has been suspended once again at Mitiga International Airport due to its incessant bombing, a statement on the airport’s Facebook page says. The media office of the Volcano of Rage Operation had confirmed earlier on February 27, that the airport and the area adjacent -Shurfat al-Milaha- was targeted by Haftar’s militias with Grad rockets. “The attack is a repeated violation of the ceasefire and addition to Haftar’s countless war crimes against civilians,” the media office stated [Libya Observer, 27.02.2020];
- militias allied with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) targeted residential neighborhoods in Qasr Bin Ghashir once again with indiscriminate shells, in a new violation of the January 12 ceasefire [Address Libya, 27.02.2020];
- the Libyan National Army announced that a third Turkish drone was shot down on February 26 in less than twenty-four hours, after taking off from the Turkish base at Mitiga airport. The LNA’s announcement comes after its air defenses shot down a Bayrakdar drone plane south of Tripoli, while it was trying to raid its positions. The spokesperson for the Libyan National Army, Ahmed al-Mismari, on Facebook, posted a video showing the Turkish drone after it was shot down by the LNA defenses [Address Libya, 27.02.2020];
- according to the media office of the ‘Volcano of Rage Operation’, Haftar’s militias targeted a number of areas on February 25 evening in and around the Mitiga International Airport, having directed artillery and rockets on several other neighborhoods in the capital [Libya Observer, 26.02.2020];
- the Libyan National Army (LNA) managed to shoot down a Turkish drone south of Tripoli on February 25 evening, after taking off from Mitiga air base. The spokesman of LNA, Major General Ahmed al-Mismari, quoted the commander of LNA Military Operations Room in the Western Region, Major General Al-Mabrouk al-Ghazwi, as saying that “the room considers these acts as terrorist and in violation of the declared truce in the western region.” [Address Libya, 26.02.2020].
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament, Ali Abdel Aal, criticized the Turkish role in transporting terrorists and mercenaries from Syria to Libya, noting that this represents a threat to the security of the region and Europe [Address Libya, 01.03.2020];
- in a U.S State Department special briefing on U.S. engagement with Libya to the media in Washington on February 28, the State Department said that the U.S. Government is immersed in efforts to support an immediate end to Libya’s ongoing conflict and minimize toxic foreign interference [Libya Herald, 01.03.2020];
- the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, linked the ongoing armed conflict between the Syrian regime and Turkish forces in Idlib, Syria, with the situation in Libya, saying, “Yes, there is a kind of interconnection between the two conflicts, which does not call for peace in either case.” Salame pointed out, during a press conference in Geneva on February 28, that there are international players responsible for the aggravation of the situation in Syria and Libya [Address Libya, 28.02.2020];
- countries continuing to send arms to Libya will face “consequences,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas ahead of a UN Security Council meeting in New York on February 27 [Address Libya, 27.02.2020];
- Russia welcomes the African Union’s readiness to send a mission of military observers to Libya, as this could contribute significantly to the crisis settlement, the Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on February 27 [Address Libya, 27.02.2020];
- the League of Arab States has renewed its call for a permanent and complete ceasefire in Libya. The League hailed “the progress” achieved by the joint military discussions between the representatives of the Government of National Accord (GNA) and those loyal to Khalifa Haftar to reach a complete cease-fire between both sides [Libya Observer, 27.02.2020];
- the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, remarked that Moscow had not seen any indication from Libyan political players to implement the military or political outcomes of the Berlin Conference [Libya Observer, 27.02.2020];
- Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tabboun, announced that Algeria and Qatar are in total unanimity regarding all issues raised during discussions with the leader of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, on the Libyan crisis [Libya Observer, 27.02.2020];
- the agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea signed between Turkey and the Tripoli-based Government of “National Accord” (GNA) is in violation of international law and poses a threat to other states in the region, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said [Address Libya, 26.02.2020];
- the Embassies of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the Delegation of the European Union issued a joint statement on February 25 in which they welcomed the ‘‘considerable progress’’ in the UN-facilitated talks in Geneva toward a ‘‘lasting ceasefire’’ in Libya [Libya Herald, 25.02.2020];
- the US Embassy has announced that the 5+5 military talks taking place in Geneva under the umbrella of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), have made progress in the second round [Libya Observer, 25.02.2020];
- UNSMIL said in a statement on February 24 that a second round of the 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission (JMC) talks concluded on February 23 at the Palace of Nations in Geneva in the presence of UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame [Libya Observer, 24.02.2020].
