Cautious calm east of Tripoli after clashes: Official

By Waleed Abdullah

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) - A cautious calm prevailed some 75 kilometers east of the Libyan capital Tripoli after severe clashes Sunday between Unity Government-affiliated forces and Salvation Government-affiliated forces, a senior Unity security official said.

“The [Unity Government-affiliated] joint force started clashes with the Salvation-affiliated armed groups which took Gasr Garabulli as an attack point to advance towards Tripoli,” a senior official in the Unity Government-affiliated Presidential Guards told Anadolu Agency anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to the media. Gasr Garabulli is also known as Castelverde.

“The joint force managed to expel armed groups loyal to the Salvation at several points, including security barriers erected by those outlawed groups,” he added.

Anadolu Agency was unable to get immediate comment on the developments from Libya’s Salvation Government.

Neither party supplied its casualty figures or material losses from Sunday’s clashes.

“The Gasr Garabulli clashes Sunday evening led to the closure of the coastal road leading to the city, damaging a number of houses and stores, and the displacement of some families," Sharif Jaballah, spokesman for the town, told Libyan-based Libya al-Ahrar TV.

“The clashes took place with medium and heavy weapons between armed groups at the western entrance of the town," Jaballah added.

On Facebook, Libya’s General Electric Company (GECOL) warned of power outages due to the clashes.

Libya has been locked in a state of violence and turmoil since 2011, when a bloody popular uprising ended with the ouster and death of former President Muammar Gaddafi.

Libya has remained turbulent, with the country's stark political divisions yielding at least three different seats of government and a host of rival militia groups.