Clashes push the Bashagha government to leave Tripoli

The Libyan “stability” government headed by Fathi Bashagha was forced to leave the capital, Tripoli, after the failure of its first attempt to enter the capital, following violent clashes between it and forces loyal to the unity government headed by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba.

The “unity” government announced that it had thwarted what it described as a “failed infiltration attempt” into Tripoli, which was carried out at dawn yesterday by its rival, the “stability government.” When he inspected the neighborhoods that witnessed the clashes, Dabaiba confirmed the failure of those he described as “bats of darkness and those calling for war” and threatened them, stressing that “the situation is calm.”

Shots were heard from heavy weapons and machine guns throughout the capital, and videos of street war were monitored in the city center and in the port, after it erupted shortly after Bashagha’s sudden entry, accompanied by a number of his ministers, in the protection of the Eighth Force Battalion known as Al-Nawasi.

In the first reaction to these developments, the US embassy urged all armed groups to refrain from violence, and said that seizing power, or retaining it through violence, “will only do harm to the people of Libya.” The British Embassy also urged the parties to stop the tension and work through a dialogue that leads to stability and the holding of elections.

As for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, it said it is following the developments with concern, stressing “the need to maintain calm, preserve lives and property, and the capabilities of the Libyan people.”