Fighting in Libya’s Capital as One Government Seizes Another’s Compound

Fighting in Libya’s Capital as One Government Seizes Another’s Compound
By REUTERSMARCH 15, 2017
TRIPOLI, Libya — Armed groups aligned with a Libyan government in Tripoli
that is backed by the United Nations took over a compound occupied by the leader of a rival government on Wednesday after heavy fighting that spread to several parts of the city.
It then escalated into power struggles between militias loyal to the rival governments: the Government of National
Accord, which is backed by the United Nations, and the self-declared National Salvation Government.
Al Nabaa was also taken off air for several weeks at the end of last March when its
building was attacked as the unity government’s leadership arrived in Tripoli.
By Wednesday, the Government of National Accord had posted guards outside the Rixos hotel complex,
where the leader of the National Salvation Government, Khalifa al-Ghwell, had established a base.
The offices of a television station sympathetic to the self-declared government opposed to the one
backed by the United Nations were burned down in the clashes, and the channel went off air.
He was quoted by the website as saying, "Our National Salvation Government withdrew from its offices
in Tripoli to stop the bloodshed." Please verify you’re not a robot by clicking the box.
Tripoli, Libya’s capital, is controlled by a patchwork of armed groups that have built local fiefs and vied for power since Libya’s 2011 uprising.