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Libya: Clashes Erupt South of Tripoli Violating Ceasefire Deal

Smoke rises during heavy clashes between rival factions in Tripoli, Libya (File photo: Reuters)
Smoke rises during heavy clashes between rival factions in Tripoli, Libya (File photo: Reuters)
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Libya: Clashes Erupt South of Tripoli Violating Ceasefire Deal

Smoke rises during heavy clashes between rival factions in Tripoli, Libya (File photo: Reuters)
Smoke rises during heavy clashes between rival factions in Tripoli, Libya (File photo: Reuters)

Heavy clashes erupted Thursday in the Libyan capital violating the ceasefire deal, only to subside on Friday morning amid reports on the mobilization of troops of Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar and forces loyal to Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Fayez al-Sarraj.

LNA advanced towards Tripoli as GNA forces retreated, a high-ranking military official told Asharq Al-Awsat in a brief statement.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the army forces managed during the past two days to thwart militia defenses in several areas of the capital, especially in its southern suburbs, but declined to reveal more details.

Heavy clashes erupted between the forces of the two parties near the diplomatic club in Ain Zara axis in southern Tripoli.

Two top officials of forces loyal to GNA stated they monitored LNA forces mobilizing in the areas of Qasr bin Ghashir, Tarhunah, and Sorman, adding that they transported artillery from al-Jafra airbase towards Tripoli.

Volcano of Rage Operation, launched by militias loyal to the GNA, indicated that LNA forces bombed the homes and properties of citizens, as worshipers went out for Friday prayers in the town of Abu Salim.

GNA Minister of Interior Fathi Bashagha pledged the ministry’s full support to the forces to liberate the entire country from LNA's "illegal militias".

In a statement, the minister said he was confident the government and supporting forces would fully liberate all areas.

Bashagha was visiting Sirte – al-Jufrah field operations room where he met with military officials and head of the operations room to discuss recent developments in the region and preparations to liberate the areas.

Meanwhile, Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed the recent developments of the Libyan crisis in the wake of the resignation of the UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame.

Aboul-Gheit discussed, over the phone, Salame’s resignation and conveyed to Guterres his sincere appreciation for the important role he has played for Libya's peace and stability. He expressed confidence in the UN to choose another distinguished Arab figure to succeed Salame and lead UNSMIL.

Guterres praised the Arab League’s firm commitment to settling the Libyan crisis, stressing that the UN will continue to build on the efforts launched by Salame, according to a source.

Aboul-Gheit said they discussed the Libyan developments after Saleme’s sudden resignation citing health issues, noting that he briefed Guterres on the results of the last ministerial meeting of the Arab League.

Arab countries are committed to helping settle the Libyan crisis by strengthening mechanisms of cooperation with the UN and continuing to coordinate with other partners concerned with Libyan affairs, asserted Aboul-Gheit.

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Syrian Family Recounts the Horrors of 2013 Chemical Attack Near Damascus

Hussein Arbeeni, 41, shows how he blocked a room door by tapes where 23 people locked themselves inside it to prevent leakage of the sarin struck during a 2013 chemical weapons attack that was blamed on then President Bashar al-Assad's forces, in Zamalka neighborhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP)
Hussein Arbeeni, 41, shows how he blocked a room door by tapes where 23 people locked themselves inside it to prevent leakage of the sarin struck during a 2013 chemical weapons attack that was blamed on then President Bashar al-Assad's forces, in Zamalka neighborhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP)
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Syrian Family Recounts the Horrors of 2013 Chemical Attack Near Damascus

Hussein Arbeeni, 41, shows how he blocked a room door by tapes where 23 people locked themselves inside it to prevent leakage of the sarin struck during a 2013 chemical weapons attack that was blamed on then President Bashar al-Assad's forces, in Zamalka neighborhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP)
Hussein Arbeeni, 41, shows how he blocked a room door by tapes where 23 people locked themselves inside it to prevent leakage of the sarin struck during a 2013 chemical weapons attack that was blamed on then President Bashar al-Assad's forces, in Zamalka neighborhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP)

A Syrian family that survived a 2013 chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people near the country’s capital, Damascus, says the ordeal they experienced haunts them to this day.

The Aug. 21, 2013 attack targeted several Damascus suburbs, including Zamalka, where the Arbeeni family lives. Government forces of then-President Bashar Assad were blamed for the attack.

The Arbeenis remember how they locked themselves inside a windowless room in their home for hours, escaping the fate of dozens of their neighbors who perished in what was one of the deadliest moments of Syria’s civil war.

The gas that was used — sarin, an extremely toxic nerve agent — can kill in minutes.

The Syrian government denied it was behind the attack and blamed opposition fighters, an accusation the opposition rejected as Assad's forces were the only side in the brutal civil war to possess sarin. The United States subsequently threatened military retaliation, with then-President Barack Obama saying Assad’s use of chemical weapons would be Washington’s “red line.”

“It was a horrifying night,” Hussein Arbeeni, 41, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The surface-to-surface missiles fell close to his family’s home without exploding, instead leaking the poisonous gas. Shortly after that, he says the family members had difficulties breathing, their eyes started to ache and their hearts beat faster and faster.

Hassan Arbeeni, 42, shows a crater where a surface-to-surface missile loaded with sarin struck, during a 2013 chemical weapons attack that was blamed on then President Bashar al-Assad's forces, in Zamalka neighborhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP)

Arbeeni, his parents, his siblings and their families, as well as a neighbor — 23 people in all — rushed into the only room in their home without windows and closed the door.

He says he taped all around the door, soaked some clothes in water and rolled them up under the door to prevent the gas from coming in. “I even taped the keyhole,” he said.

A few months earlier, Arbeeni said, the local first responders of the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, had instructed residents in the opposition-held suburbs of Damascus what to do in case of a chemical attack.

He remembers them saying they should cover their nose and mouth with a cloth soaked in water with white vinegar, and breathe through that.

They huddled for three hours inside the room — time that seemed endless that night. Outside, many people were dying.

“It is all because of God and this locked room,” Arbeeni says of their survival.

Around daybreak, the White Helmets members rushed into their house, found the family inside the room on the ground floor and told them to leave the area immediately.

They ran into the street and saw dead bodies lying all around. A passing truck took the family on and gave them a ride. Their neighbor, who had fainted from the shock of the horrific scene, was taken away by paramedics.

“I was scared to look,” said Arbeeni’s mother, Khadija Dabbas, 66.

The family stayed for a few weeks some miles away from Zamalka but then came back.

Despite Obama's threat, in the end, Washington settled for a deal with Moscow for Russia-backed Assad to give up his chemical weapons’ stockpile.

But Assad's government was widely believed to have kept some of the weapons and was accused of using them again — including a 2018 chlorine gas attack over Douma, another Damascus suburb, that killed 43 people.

Today, Arbeeni — remembering all the neighbors, friends and townspeople who perished — says he wants the “harshest punishment” for those behind the attack in Zamalka.

“All those children and innocent people who were killed should get justice,” he said, looking at his 12-year-old son, Laith, a baby at the time of the attack.

An aerial view shows a mass grave where are buried those who were killed by the sarin struck during a 2013 chemical weapons attack that was blamed on then President Bashar al-Assad's forces, in Zamalka neighborhood, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP)

The new authorities in Syria are led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, which late last month launched a stunning offensive from its northwestern stronghold that blitzed across large swaths of Syria and toppled Assad. They have vowed to bring to justice former Syrian government officials blamed for atrocities.

But times are still unsettled — a few short weeks after Assad's ouster, no one knows what Syria's future will look like.

“The overthrow of the Assad government creates the possibility of justice for thousands of victims of atrocities, including those killed by chemical and other banned weapons,” says Adam Coogle, deputy director with the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.

“But justice will only happen if the new authorities prioritize it and urgently act to preserve evidence,” Coogle added. He urged for immediate access for UN agencies and international experts who would create a comprehensive plan to ensure that Syrians can seek justice and accountability.

On Wednesday, about a dozen people visited the Martyrs Cemetery in Zamalka and the graves of people from the area killed during Syria's nearly 14-year war.

Arbeeni's brother, Hassan, pointed to part of the cemetery that holds a mass grave. There are no names of the dead there, only a sign in Arabic that reads: “August 2013.”

“The martyrs of the chemical attack are here,” Hassan said, and recited a Muslim prayer for the dead.