Libyan Air Force hits Haftar positions south of Tripoli

Bloomberg

Forces loyal to the internationally recognised government in Tripoli conducted air strikes to try to halt a march on the capital by strongman Khalifa Haftar’s troops, officials said.
Fighter jets struck positions near Tripoli held by Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army on Friday and on Saturday, LNA media official Aguila Saber and local city official Hamed al Nuwaiser said.
Haftar, a military leader whose stronghold is in the east of the country and whose forces swept through the south in January, ordered his troops to march on the capital. The move sharply escalated tensions in the North African OPEC state and drew rebukes from the United States and European countries.
Diplomats fear the assault could drag Libya into a bloody civil war. Its timing, as United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres was in the country to prepare for an April 14
political conference, shocked even Haftar’s foreign backers, including France.
Clashes near Tripoli continued for a third day as Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar’s troops pushed towards the capital, ignoring a plea by the United Nations to end the fighting that could draw the North African country into civil war.
Speaking in Benghazi after meeting Haftar, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres told reporters he was leaving the country with a “heavy heart” but still hoped “it will be possible to avoid a bloody confrontation in and around Tripoli.” He had earlier met with Fayez al-Sarraj, the leader of the internationally recognised government in Tripoli.
As Guterres spoke, Haftar’s troops clashed with opponents in Souk el-Khamais, roughly 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Tripoli, local media reported, an offensive that coincided with his arrival.
The UN chief was in Libya to prepare for an April 14 political conference, and the timing of the attack dumbfounded even Haftar’s foreign supporters, diplomats said.
A Libyan National Army Facebook page later said its troops moved into the town of Qasr Ben Ghushair, near a disused airport on the outskirts of Tripoli. LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said his forces captured the airport, but Tripoli’s Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha denied that on a local television station.
“We will not stop,” Mismari said in a press conference. “Tomorrow the battle will be on the edges of Tripoli.”
The offensive came after weeks of negotiations for a new unity government, and after a meeting, where the US warned Haftar against marching on the capital, diplomats said.
Haftar, the field marshal who had taken the east before sweeping through the south in January to control the OPEC state’s largest oil field, had always said he would seize Tripoli. Diplomats say they had expected him to launch a show of force ahead of the talks, but not attempt to move on the region filled with battle-hardened militias that oppose him.
The offensive has been condemned by the US, France and Britain, which called for the UN Security Council to convene on Friday. But it wasn’t clear whether growing international pressure would work on the famously hard-headed commander, who has shown no sign of backing down.
Haftar’s forces had said they would be welcomed in Tripoli, but the offensive has stirred up a hornet’s nest. “Actors at opposite end of the spectrum in Libya view this conflict an existential battle, and I think Haftar underestimated this,” Libyan analyst Emad Badi said.