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Tripoli Clashes Expose Disputes between GNA Interior, Defense Ministries

A building damaged during violence seen in Tripoli, Libya, July 9, 2020. (AFP)
A building damaged during violence seen in Tripoli, Libya, July 9, 2020. (AFP)
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Tripoli Clashes Expose Disputes between GNA Interior, Defense Ministries

A building damaged during violence seen in Tripoli, Libya, July 9, 2020. (AFP)
A building damaged during violence seen in Tripoli, Libya, July 9, 2020. (AFP)

Tensions have mounted between the Defense and Interior Ministries in the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) in wake of clashes between the “Al-Daman” and “Lions of Tajoura” militias in Tripoli last week.

The Defense Ministry has threatened to resort to force against the two GNA-affiliated groups if they fail to heed its order to disarm.

In a statement on Saturday, it said the clashes undermine the authority of the state and threaten the lives of civilians.

“Fighting against rebellion does not grant anyone immunity and no one is above the law and constitution,” it added.

Friday’s clashes in an eastern suburb of the capital Tripoli had erupted over a dispute over payments owed to them by the GNA. Several fighters were killed and others wounded.

All armed forces answer to the commander of the Libyan army, continued the Defense Ministry in reference to GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj.

It vowed to strike with an iron first anyone who violates the values of the civil state or threatens the safety of the people. “We will continue to forge ahead and apply the law in respect of the sacrifices of our people and their pursuit of the establishment of a democratic civilian state,” it stressed.

In response and in what was interpreted as a reflection of where its true loyalties lie, the Al-Daman militia announced that its commander, Ali Adridder, was turning himself over to the Interior Ministry.

Defense Minister Salah al-Namroush had demanded that the commanders of the militias turn themselves in to the military prosecutor.

Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha and Sarraj have so far not commented on the unrest, which is seen as a sign of the tensions between them. Sarraj’s recent appointment of Namroush to his post was seen as a move against Bashagha, who was eying the position of defense minister.

Namroush and Bashagha both boast the backing of Turkey and are seen as GNA stalwarts, but the recent armed clashes in Tripoli have exposed the underlying tensions between them.

Al-Daman and the Lions of Tajoura militias both control the region of Tajoura, which lies some 30 kilometers east of Tripoli.

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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.