Tripoli under fire

This item appears on page 18 of the June 2019 issue.

A division of rebel troops entered Tripoli, Libya, on April 4 with the intent to capture the city. At press time, rocket and artillery fire were still being reported, the clashes between rebel troops and Libyan armed forces having killed at least 220 people, including 18 civilians, and injured more than 900. More than 2,800 civilians fled the city.

A UN-backed government controls Tripoli and much of western Libya, while militias, some allied with the government, control areas of southern and eastern Libya. The group invading Tripoli, led by General Khalifa Haftar, an army commander under former president Muammar Gadaffi (who was killed during a civil war in 2011), is attempting to unseat the UN-backed government.