Libya

Officials from Libya's two rival governments said fighting erupted Sunday as the country's east-based forces advanced toward the strategic western city of Misrata, further eroding a crumbling cease-fire agreement brokered earlier this month. The clashes came just hours after the United Nations decried "continued blatant violations" of an arms embargo on Libya by several unspecified countries.

Several countries backing rival factions in Libya have violated an arms embargo which they had agreed to uphold a week ago at a summit in Berlin, the United Nations said on Saturday.

“Libya’s neighbours have the responsibility to facilitate a political solution,” (Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum) added before the start of his meeting with foreign ministers or other officials from Egypt, Tunisia, Chad, Niger, Sudan and Mali. Heiko Maas, the foreign minister of Germany, which hosted a summit on the Libyan crisis on Sunday, also joined the meeting.

EU foreign minister decided on Monday to revive a maritime surveillance mission in the Mediterranean to enforce a potential cease-fire in Libya and a UN arms embargo against the country’s warring parties. Meanwhile, the bloc is scrambling to avoid being drawn into a conflict that threatens to destabilise the whole of the Mediterranean.

"Our message is clear: No one can win this conflict militarily," the German foreign minister said before heading to the north African country. The pressure is high ahead of an international peace summit in Berlin.

Libyan field marshal Khalifa Haftar left Moscow on Tuesday without signing a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending nine months of fighting, leaving the future of a fragile truce uncertain. The commander’s abrupt departure in the early hours of January 14 was a setback for an international diplomatic push in recent days, though Moscow insisted it would continue mediation efforts.

Ankara and Moscow have called on the warring parties in Libya to reach a cease-fire agreement by midnight Jan. 12. The call, made in a joint statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, is a clear signal that neither power wants to lurch into confrontation in the oil-rich North African state where they are supporting opposing sides.

Forces aligned with Libya's internationally recognized Government of National Accord said on Tuesday they had withdrawn from the strategic coastal city of Sirte to avoid bloodshed, after their eastern rivals rapidly entered it and took control.

The top UN official in Libya has delivered a stern message urging other nations to stop intervening in the country’s ongoing crisis.