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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Cairo - Khaled Mahmoud

Battle for Tripoli Enters Second Phase as LNA Pushes More Reinforcements

GNA forces seen in southern Tripoli, Libya, June 22, 2019. (Reuters)

The Libyan National Army (LNA) announced the launch of the second phase of its operation to liberate Tripoli from criminal and terrorist militias.

The army, commanded by Khalifa Haftar, had kicked off the operation on April 4.

It brought in further reinforcements on all fronts to back the second phase of the battle.

After some four months of fighting, the LNA is still trying to breach the defenses of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in southern Tripoli.

Monday also witnessed a prisoner swap between the LNA and pro-GNA militias in the city of Bani Walid.

The army received two prisoners and handed two detainees, who were held in Tarhuna city for three months, to the militias.

In the east, residents of the city of Benghazi took to the streets to condemn Qatar and Turkey’s meddling in Libya’s internal affairs.

They accused Doha and Ankara of continuously supplying weapons to the militias that are destabilizing the country.

They also slammed the terrorist acts committed by these groups, including the bombing in the east that targeted the funeral of a former military official last week. The attack left five people dead and dozens wounded.

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