In Derna, ISIS has claimed responsibility on Thursday for two car bomb explosions that targeted a military unit belonging to forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA) earlier this week.
In Tripoli,the Libyan National Army (LNA) has made new progress in several locations in the battle to liberate Tripoli, LNA Military Information Division confirmed on Saturday. Fighter jets of the Libyan National Army (LNA) raided for the second time in a row the military section of Mitiga Base and Airport in Tripoli and destroyed a Turkish drone.
On the international level, members of the United States Congress confirmed US support for the Government of National Accord (GNA) and their rejection of the aggression on the capital Tripoli. Russia is in contact with all parties to the conflict in Libya and the ceasefire is being discussed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Thursday on the sidelines of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
DERNA
- ISIS has claimed responsibility on Thursday for two car bomb explosions that targeted a military unit belonging to forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA) in Derna earlier this week, the terrorist group’s propaganda newspaper Al-Nabaa said. At least 18 people were reportedly wounded in the explosions in the eastern coastal city [Address Libya, 07.06.2019].
MURZUK
- more than 20 people have been killed in violent clashes between the tribal components of Murzuk, south-west of Libya, since the first days of Eid al-Fitr, a source from the desert town confirmed. The source, who preferred not to be identified, said that the military offensive of Haftar’s forces in the past period has caused a great social rift among the tribes, holding them liable for what is happening in the town. The situation in Murzuk is getting more tense and polarized and the wise men of the region have urged the authorities in Tripoli to intervene and contain the crisis to avert grave consequences, but their calls were met with no response, according to the source [Libya Observer, 09.06.2019].
TRIPOLI
- the Libyan National Army (LNA) has made new progress in several locations in the battle to liberate Tripoli, LNA Military Information Division confirmed on Saturday. In a brief statement, the division said that LNA had inflicted heavy losses on lives and equipment of the armed groups and had taken control of positions of those groups in the capital Tripoli [Address Libya, 08.06.2019];
- fighter jets of the Libyan National Army (LNA) raided for the second time in a row the military section of Mitiga Base and Airport in Tripoli and destroyed a Turkish drone, LNA Military Information Division announced early Friday. LNA had targeted another Turkish drone in Mitiga Base on Thursday, according to the Information Division [Address Libya, 07.06.2019];
- a drone belonging to Khalifa Haftar’s UAE-backed air force struck Mitiga Airport, the only functioning airport in Tripoli, in the early hours of Thursday. Haftar’s media office claimed they destroyed a Turkish drone attacking their forces, but an airport source said the airstrike hit an old MiG fighter in the military section of the airport. Flights were not affected. Hours later, Haftar’s warplanes bombed a field hospital in Swani region, south Tripoli, leaving some doctors and nurses wounded [Libya Observer, 06.06.2019];
- a third airstrike has targeted Joudaim Equestrian Club, northeast of Zawiya, wounding a number of horses. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) announced the death of its Deputy Minister of Housing, Salah al-Din al-Rukai, during his participation in the fighting in the ranks of its militias against the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces this morning, said the Media Center of Al-Karama Operations Room of LNA [Address Libya, 03.06.2019].
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian has called for an immediate cease-fire in Tripoli without giving any excuses, as he put it. In a joint press conference with his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita in Rabat, Le Drian warned of the return of ISIS to the Libyan south because of the conflict in Tripoli, saying that the instability in the country will have grave repercussions on the region and France as well [Libya Observer, 09.06.2019];
- members of the United States Congress confirmed US support for the Government of National Accord (GNA) and their rejection of the aggression on the capital Tripoli. The members, among them Lindsey Graham and Todd Young, emphasized during their meeting with Vice President of the Presidential Council (PC), Ahmed Maiteeq, in Washington, the need to return to the political track as the only way to reach a solution to the Libyan crisis, according to Maiteeq on Facebook [Libya Observer, 08.06.2019];
- the Head of the UNSMIL, Ghassan Salame, has called for an urgent humanitarian truce and for more support for the IDPs in Tripoli. Salame’s call came in a visit he paid Saturday to the workplaces of UN agencies that are responding to humanitarian needs of the IDPs in Tripoli [Libya Observer, 08.06.2019];
- Russia is in contact with all parties to the conflict in Libya and the ceasefire is being discussed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Thursday on the sidelines of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). “We are in contact with all sides. Yesterday there were talks here between [Russian Foreign Minister] Sergey Lavrov and [UN Special Representative for Libya] Ghassan Salame, all of these issues were discussed. The contacts are maintained with the East and the West, with the South, with everyone,” the deputy foreign minister told reporters [Address Libya, 06.06.2019];
- the Head of the European Union’s Mission in Libya, Alan Bugeja, has called on conflicting parties in Tripoli to “put the interests of the people of Libya first, by ending the violence, be guided by reason and return to dialogue.” In a statement released on Tuesday to mark the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, Bugeja said “this year Eid comes at a time of war for the people of Tripoli and suffering for many others in Libya, particularly in the south of the country” [Address Libya, 05.06.2019].
