Libya's Dbeibah stays to defend Tripoli amid worst fighting in two years

Record ID: 1686530

  • Title: Libya's Dbeibah stays to defend Tripoli amid worst fighting in two years
  • Date: 28th August 2022
  • Summary: TRIPOLI, LIBYA (AUGUST 28, 2022) (REUTERS) CARS DRIVING PAST BURNT CARS VARIOUS OF BURNT CARS FROM YESTERDAY’S CLASHES VARIOUS OF CAR WITH BULLET HOLES EMPTY SHELLS ON THE ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LIBYAN MAN, SAYING: "I was in the house when I heard gunfire, Libya is not moving forward. For God’s sake, the shop has been damaged and the car was new, only been here for four months now, this is not fair, not right, and for what?” VARIOUS DAMAGED HOUSES AND SHOPS IN CENTRAL TRIPOLI AFTER FIGHTING WALL WITH GUNFIRE HOLES VARIOUS OF DAMAGED AND BURNT CARS VARIOUS OF WALL WITH GUNFIRE HOLES / BURNT CAR AND HOUSE IN THE BACKGROUND BURNT CAR EMPTY SHELLS AND DEBRIS ON THE ROAD VARIOUS OF DAMAGED HOUSES AND SHOPS EMPTY SHELLS ON THE ROAD
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2022 12:18
  • Keywords: DBEIBAH FIGHTING LIBYA TRIPOLI
  • Location: TRIPOLI, LIBYA
  • City: TRIPOLI, LIBYA
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
  • Reuters ID: LVA002107228082022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:PART QUALITY AS INCOMING
    Libya's capital was quiet early on Sunday (August 28), a day after the worst fighting there for two years killed 32 people and injured 159, as forces aligned with a parliament-backed administration failed to dislodge the Tripoli-based government.
    Roads in the city were busy with motorists, shops were open and people were clearing away smashed glass and other debris from Saturday's violence, with burned-out vehicles lining some streets in central Tripoli.
    The fighting has raised fears of a wider conflict in Libya over the political standoff between Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah in Tripoli and Fathi Bashagha, who seeks to install a new government in the capital.
    In a video posted on his Facebook page, Dbeibah told fighters the only way to move forward was to go to elections.
    "Those who think they can stage a coup, we tell them the coup era has now passed and those who want elections we are ready for elections, we’re not moving forward unless we go to elections and if they want otherwise, we have men," he said.
    Bashagha's attempt on Saturday to take over in Tripoli was his second such attempt since May.
    Airline companies said early on Sunday that flights were operating normally at Tripoli's Mitiga airport, a sign that the security situation had eased for now.
    The health ministry said on Sunday that 32 people were killed in Saturday's violence and 159 were injured, up from a ministry source's previous estimate of 23 deaths and 87 injured.
    United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate end to the violence and for genuine dialog to get around Libya's political impasse.
    Bashagha's failure to oust Dbeibah showed that despite a period of realignment among armed factions in and around the capital, the Tripoli government can still count on a military coalition able to fight off its enemies.
    There is no sign of any move towards a compromise between the main camps or of new diplomatic efforts to bring them together around a new push for national elections to resolve the dispute over control of the government.
    (Production: Ayman Sahely, Hani Amara, Mariam Rizk)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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