...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
led by strongman Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...that left casualties on both sides.
On Monday "our forces repelled a major attack by Haftar forces on several fronts in southern Tripoli which they had planned and mobilized for days," front man Mustafa al-Mejii told AFP.
He said six fighters loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) were killed and several others maimed.
The fighting left 25 dead or maimed on the other side, he said.
GNA forces carried out seven air strikes on positions held by Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army in Tripoli suburbs, including Ain Zara some 12 kilometers from downtown Tripoli, the front man said.
"Within a few hours our forces succeeded in forcing them to retreat, and seized new positions that had been under the control of Haftar’s forces," he said.
During the fighting GNA forces also destroyed military hardware, including three tanks, seized others and captured 11 fighters, the front man added.
The LNA meanwhile said in a statement on its Facebook page that it had made progress in the combat zone of southern Tripoli, "inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy," without giving details.
On the weekend the GNA expressed fear that Haftar forces were prepping a new "military escalation" in their months-long push to take Tripoli where the UN-recognized government is based.
Deadly fighting has rocked the capital’s outskirts since the LNA launched an offensive to seize the capital.