Libya: Tripoli alert after rebel leader orders | New

The Libyan government, backed by the international community, is deploying forces in the capital, Tripoli, after General Khalifa Haftar, who had been renegotiated, ordered his eastern military forces to move to the city on Thursday. , raising fears of a major clash with rival militias.

The UN Security Council has called for an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the escalation of the power struggle that has been going on for several years in Libya, while a number of foreign powers called for restraint.

Earlier Friday, the AFP news agency announced that some troops from Haftar so-called Libyan National Army (LNA) were pushed back from a security fence by a Zawiya militia, located less than 30 km from the capital.

On Thursday, Haftar's forces invaded Gharyan, a town 100 km south of Tripoli. In an audio recording published on the LNA press office's Facebook page, Haftar described the movement of his forces as a "victorious march" aimed at "shaking the land under the feet of the unjust group".

"We are coming to Tripoli, we are coming," he said.

"Why use weapons?

The oil-rich country, which has been in unrest since the withdrawal of its long-time NATO-backed leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has at least two rival administrations: the internationally renowned Tripoli government headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj; and another in the eastern town of Tobruk, which is allied with Haftar.

Tensions are mounting as the UN prepares to hold a conference later this month in the southwestern city of Ghadames to discuss a political solution to prepare delayed elections. and avoid a military confrontation.

Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha told Al Jazeera that Haftar is taking steps in an unprecedented moment of calm.

"Why use weapons and use force to terrorize the Libyan people, kill him and force him to accept only one thing, to be ruled by a military dictator?" makes Haftar a better candidate than other Libyans? " Said Bashagha.

"We will not be subjected to any use of force by any party or by anyone, and if anyone wants to use force against us, we are ready to make sacrifices, but we will not give up the democracy we have always wanted from the government. " beginning. "

In the audio recording, Haftar urged his forces to peacefully enter Tripoli and raise the weapons "only in the face of those who seek injustice and prefer confrontation and fighting".

He also told them not to fire on civilians or unarmed people.

"Those who lay down their weapons are safe and those with the white banner are safe," he said.

UN Peace Efforts

The advance of Haftar forces prompted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was in Tripoli Thursday for talks with Sarraj, to express his "deep concern".

"I want to make a very strong call, a call to all the military movements for it to stop, a call for detention, calm and de-escalation, both military and political and a verbal and political de-escalation. Guterres told reporters. He was scheduled to meet Haftar on Friday in eastern Libya.

Analysts say Haftar's previous strategy was to expand his control by forging alliances and buying back the opposition, and his military decision was motivated by the upcoming talks.

"Haftar would like to force the hand of the UN and the participants in a way that does not exclude it, fearing that this conference will open a new path for Libya in the coming years and that" he is not included in this process, "said Hafed Al Ghwell, a researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

Troops in motion

On Wednesday, the LNA media center said on Facebook that several units were headed "to the west to purify the remaining terrorist groups". An accompanying video showed a column of dozens of armed vehicles moving along a road, but it was not immediately possible to identify their location or their destination.

In response, the Tripoli-based government, which relies on groups of armed groups with flexible allegiances, declared a military alert.

Serraj has described the advance of climbing as "climbing" and urged Haftar 's forces to "stop using the language of the threat".

He added that he had ordered pro-government forces to prepare to "deal with all threats … from terrorist groups, criminals, outlaws and all those who threatened the security of the country." every Libyan city ".

In response to the LNA movement, armed groups in the city of Misrata, which support the Tripoli-based government, announced on Thursday that they would block an advance on the capital.

The forces based in Misrata "stand ready … to stop the accursed advance" of the LNA, they said in a statement quoted by AFP.

The highest Libyan religious authority has called on the public to take to the streets against the Haftar campaign to seize the capital.

"The Libyan people must resist and fight against Haftar's forces in Tripoli so as not to see the crimes against humanity committed in [the eastern cities of] Derna and Benghazi, "Grand Mufti Sadiq Al-Ghariani told Al Jazeera.

"It's no longer a secret that the UN mission in the country is cooperating with Haftar."

"No military solution"

In a joint statement released on Thursday, the United States, France, Britain, Italy and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) called for an "immediate de-escalation of tensions" in Libya.

"Our governments will oppose any military action in Libya and demand accountability from any Libyan faction that precipitates a new civil conflict," the statement said.

"At this sensitive moment of transition in Libya, military positions and unilateral threats of action risk only bringing Libya back to chaos," he added. "We firmly believe that there is no military solution to the conflict in Libya".

Al Jazeera's diplomatic editor, James Bays, said it was remarkable that two of the countries that signed the declaration – France and the United Arab Emirates – supported Haftar.

"Diplomats say that they are angry, they are a little surprised that Haftar made his decision at a time when the UN Secretary General was going to Libya." They worry about the situation and highlight the arrogance of this move at the present time, "Bays said, reporting from a NATO summit in Washington, DC.

Tense situation

Sent from the capital, Mahmoud Abdelwahed of Al Jazeera said Thursday that "things are getting worse and worse".

"It seems that the rival factions on the ground do not listen to the warnings of the UN chief," he added, calling the situation in Tripoli "tense".

"People are concerned that if Haftar's forces enter Tripoli, if they engage in military clashes with local armed groups, there could be another war," Abdelwahed said.

"We understand that the local armed groups have dedicated themselves to facing the forces of Haftar as they approach Tripoli".

Abdelwahed said it was possible that Haftar would like to reach Tripoli before the conference "in order to be de facto a de facto commander of security in the western region."