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.



Red Sea Marine Traffic Up 60% after Houthis Narrowed Targets

Armed men stand on the beach as the Galaxy Leader commercial ship, seized by Yemen's Houthis last month, is anchored off the coast of al-Salif, Yemen, December 5, 2023. (Reuters)
Armed men stand on the beach as the Galaxy Leader commercial ship, seized by Yemen's Houthis last month, is anchored off the coast of al-Salif, Yemen, December 5, 2023. (Reuters)
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Red Sea Marine Traffic Up 60% after Houthis Narrowed Targets

Armed men stand on the beach as the Galaxy Leader commercial ship, seized by Yemen's Houthis last month, is anchored off the coast of al-Salif, Yemen, December 5, 2023. (Reuters)
Armed men stand on the beach as the Galaxy Leader commercial ship, seized by Yemen's Houthis last month, is anchored off the coast of al-Salif, Yemen, December 5, 2023. (Reuters)

Red Sea marine traffic has increased by 60% to 36-37 ships a day since August 2024, but is still short of volumes seen before Yemen's Houthis began attacking ships in the region, according to the commander of the EU's Aspides naval mission.

The number of merchant ships using the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait increased after missile and drone attacks by the Houthis slowed and the US and the extremist group signed a ceasefire deal, Rear Admiral Vasileios Gryparis said in an interview in Madrid.

But shipping traffic, which reached a low of 20-23 ships daily in August last year, is still short of an average of 72-75 ships a day seen before the Houthis began attacks in the Red Sea in November in 2023 in support of Palestinians over Israel's war in Gaza, said Gryparis.

The mission, which was established to safeguard navigation in the strategic trade route linking the Mediterranean with the Gulf of Asia through the Suez Canal, was extended in February when it was also tasked with tracking illegal arms shipments and monitoring vessels carrying sanctioned Russian oil.

The last attack on a merchant ship took place in November 2024 and the Houthis have also narrowed their objectives, saying their targets are Israeli ships and ships that have a connection with Israel or have docked at an Israeli port, Gryparis said.

"If you have a vessel that does not correspond to this criteria... there is a huge possibility - more than 99% - that you're not going to be targeted by the Houthis," Gryparis said.

Still, Gryparis said he could not guarantee that merchant ships won't be attacked.

Some companies have been deterred from using the route because of the mission's lack of ships, which can cause delays of as much as a week for those seeking to be escorted through the area, he said.

He said the mission has between two and three ships operating at one time and has requested the EU provide it with 10 ships to increase its capacity for protection.

The mission has provided close protection to 476 ships, shot down 18 drones, destroyed two remote-controlled boats used to attack ships and intercepted four ballistic missiles, he said.