Clashes Force Libya’s Bashagha from Tripoli after Brief Attempt to Enter

Libya's Fathi Bashagha, who was appointed prime minister by the eastern-based parliament, looks on during an interview with Reuters in Tunis, Tunisia March 30, 2022. Picture taken March 30, 2022. (Reuters)
Libya's Fathi Bashagha, who was appointed prime minister by the eastern-based parliament, looks on during an interview with Reuters in Tunis, Tunisia March 30, 2022. Picture taken March 30, 2022. (Reuters)
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Clashes Force Libya’s Bashagha from Tripoli after Brief Attempt to Enter

Libya's Fathi Bashagha, who was appointed prime minister by the eastern-based parliament, looks on during an interview with Reuters in Tunis, Tunisia March 30, 2022. Picture taken March 30, 2022. (Reuters)
Libya's Fathi Bashagha, who was appointed prime minister by the eastern-based parliament, looks on during an interview with Reuters in Tunis, Tunisia March 30, 2022. Picture taken March 30, 2022. (Reuters)

Clashes rocked Libya's capital early on Tuesday as the parliament-appointed prime minister, Fathi Bashagha, tried to take over government there but was forced back out by a rival administration that refuses to cede power.

Bashagha entered Tripoli overnight after two months of stalemate between Libya's rival administrations, but withdrew hours later as fighting broke out, his office said.

The crisis risks plunging Libya back into prolonged fighting after two years of comparative peace, or returning it to partition between the eastern-backed government of Bashagha and a Tripoli administration under Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah.

Political deadlock has already led to a partial blockade of Libya's oil facilities, cutting its main source of foreign revenue by half. Diplomacy to resolve the crisis or lay the ground for new elections is making slow progress.

The sound of heavy weapons and automatic gunfire reverberated across Tripoli on Tuesday morning. Schools were cancelled and the normally heavy rush hour traffic was sparse, but the clashes stopped after Bashagha's withdrawal.

"I don't think things will just return to being cool and static and relaxed," said Libya expert Jalel Harchaoui, adding that Dbeibah would likely try to put more pressure on the factions in Tripoli allied to Bashagha.

However, wider conflict seemed unlikely, he said, given Bashagha's rapid withdrawal from Tripoli.

Later on Tuesday, Dbeibah toured the areas where the clashes had taken place, speaking to passers by. In a statement, his government called Bashagha's convoy "an outlawed armed group trying to sneak into the capital under darkness".

Bashagha on Twitter accused Dbeibah's allied forces of a "dangerous military escalation" and said their actions showed Dbeibah's government would be unable to hold any credible election.

With neither side apparently able to establish a decisive military advantage across the country, Libya seems set for a longer period of deadlock, with Dbeibah firmly entrenched in Tripoli and his foes unable to take it.

That may prolong the shutdown of major oil facilities by forces in eastern Libya.

Deadlock
Libya has had little security since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted Moammar al-Gaddafi and its split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions before a 2020 truce that brought it under Dbeibah's fragile unity government.

A plan for an election in December collapsed amid arguments among major factions and prominent candidates over the rules. In addition the parliament, which had sided with the east during the war, moved to appoint a new administration.

The unity government's prime minister Dbeibah rejected the parliament's moves, saying his administration was still valid and he would only hand over power after an election.

Bashagha, a former interior minister who like Dbeibah comes from the powerful coastal city of Misrata, has repeatedly said he would enter Tripoli without violence. His previous attempts to do so ended with his convoy blocked by rival factions.

Last week, the parliament said Bashagha's government could work for now from Sirte, a central city near the frozen front line between eastern and western factions.

Diplomacy has focused on talks between the parliament and a Tripoli-based legislative body to lay the ground for another attempt to settle Libya's conflict by holding an election.



UK Backs Future Palestinian Statehood but Says Ceasefire the Top Priority

File photo: A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organization Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS
File photo: A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organization Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS
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UK Backs Future Palestinian Statehood but Says Ceasefire the Top Priority

File photo: A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organization Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS
File photo: A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organization Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS

Britain supports eventual recognition of a Palestinian state, but the immediate priority should be alleviating the suffering in Gaza and securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a British cabinet minister said on Friday.

Successive British governments have said they would formally recognize a Palestinian state at the right time, without ever setting a timetable or specifying the conditions for it to happen, said Reuters.

"We want Palestinian statehood, we desire it, and we want to make sure the circumstances can exist where that kind of long-term political solution can have the space to evolve," British science and technology minister Peter Kyle told Sky News.

"But right now, today, we've got to focus on what will ease the suffering, and it is extreme, unwarranted suffering in Gaza that has to be the priority for us today."

His comments came after French President Emmanuel Macron said France intends to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the UN General Assembly, a plan that drew strong condemnation from Israel and the United States.

In a statement on Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said statehood was the "inalienable right of the Palestinian people", reiterating his call for a ceasefire as a necessary step towards achieving a two-state solution.

Speaking during a visit to Australia, foreign minister David Lammy echoed Starmer's ceasefire call and described the situation in Gaza as "indefensible".

Gaza health authorities say more than 100 people have died from starvation, most of them in recent weeks.

Human rights groups have said mass starvation is spreading even as tons of food and other supplies sit untouched just outside the enclave.