Libya

Unabated violence, particularly in and around the Libyan capital, has now been raging for more than a year, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the Security Council in a virtual briefing on Tuesday, warning that war crimes may have been committed.

Libya’s eastern-based military leader Khalifa Haftar said on Monday his Libyan National Army (LNA) was accepting a “popular mandate” to rule the country, apparently brushing aside the civilian authorities that nominally govern eastern Libya.

Intense shelling of Libya's capital by the country's rival, east-based forces killed three civilians Friday, the city's health authorities said, the latest victims in a yearlong siege of Tripoli. The offensive on Tripoli by forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar has only escalated over the past weeks, despite a chorus of calls for a cease-fire so the war-torn country's weak health system can respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

EU foreign ministers were discussing the intensifying conflict in Libya on Wednesday, with Germany pledging to contribute up to 300 troops to a new EU naval mission aimed at curbing the flow of arms into the North African country. Operation Irini, which has a core mandate of upholding the UN arms embargo on Libya, was officially launched on April 1. However, the coronavirus pandemic has hampered its implementation, and crucial details - including troop contributions - remain outstanding.

Forces aligned with Libya’s internationally recognised government said they had advanced on Saturday on Tarhouna, a key support base for their eastern-based rival Khalifa Haftar.

The UN mission in Libya condemned on Wednesday the indiscriminate shelling carried out by Haftar's militias against civilians in Tripoli. In a statement, the mission said it was alarmed by the escalation of violence in Libya, particularly by the intensification of fighting in the past few days, resulting in civilian casualties.

The head of Libya's UN-recognised government Fayez al-Sarraj has said he would not resume negotiations with renegade commander Khalifa Haftar, accusing him of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to launch a new offensive against the government.

Libya's internationally recognised government said its troops have seized control of three strategic coastal cities located between the capital, Tripoli, and the Tunisian border after expelling forces loyal to eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar.

UN chief is searching for new envoy to Libya after US refused to endorse former Algerian FM Lamamra.

[…] Last month, both sides of Libya’s now one-year-old war for Tripoli again agreed to a cease-fire as the coronavirus pandemic spread around the world. But since then, bombings can be heard daily from Tripoli homes as the fighting escalates and the health care system crumbles.