- Title: LIBYA-TRIPOLI FIGHTING Rival militias clash in Libyan capital
- Date: 17th August 2014
- Summary: TRIPOLI, LIBYA (AUGUST 17, 2014) (REUTERS) THREE MEN FROM THE SHIELDS BRIGADE SITTING AND SAYING (Arabic) "GOD IS GREAT" FIGHTERS SHOOTING WITH MACHINE GUN AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CAMP TWO YOUNG MEN PREPARING AMMUNITION FOR THE MACHINE GUNS FIGHTERS FIRING AN ROCKET-PROPELLED GRENADE AND MACHINE GUN FIGHTERS SCOUTING THE AREA AT THE CAMP FIGHTERS SORTING AMMUNITION A GROU
- Embargoed: 1st September 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Libya
- Country: Libya
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA3842BNJSF797HT4N3ZP7N38Y2
- Story Text: Rival militias clashed in the area around the Tripoli Airport road on Sunday (August 17).
Heavy fighting erupted on Saturday near the capital's international airport and different residential areas where rival forces have been battling for control, forcing thousands from their homes after the new United Nations special envoy said he planned to visit Tripoli as early as next week to try to broker a ceasefire.
Gunfire and shelling with Grad rockets and artillery guns could be heard from the early morning near the airport and several residential parts of Tripoli.
The forces known as the Libya dawn operations took over an army camp know as "General Staff Camp" and the headquarters of the Equestrian Club behind it, pushing rival Qaqaa and Sawaaq Brigades out.
The battles, which involve brigades of former rebels who once fought Gaddafi together, have forced the United Nations and Western governments to evacuate their diplomats, fearing Libya is sliding into civil war.
Most of the fighting has raged over the international airport in Tripoli, which fighters from the western town of Zintan have controlled since sweeping into the capital during the 2011 war.
Libya's fragile government still has no national army and often put former rebels on the state payroll as semi-official security forces as a way to co-opt them into the new state.
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