Local militiamen, belonging to a group opposed to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, stand next to vehicles the group said they seized from Haftar's forces.
The press office of Haftar’s force said there had been “violent fighting on the edge of Tripoli with armed militias”.Libya: advances by Libya’s Haftar over five years It now has an internationally recognised unity government in Tripoli and a parallel administration, backed by Haftar, based in the east.In May 2014 Haftar, a retired general who had taken part in the revolt against the Kadhafi regime, unleashes an offensive dubbed “Operation Dignity” to purge Libya of Islamists he brands “terrorists”.
In early June they seize Al-Jufra air base 500 kilometres south of Tripoli and take the nearby towns of Houn and Soukna. He had support from neighbouring Egypt, as well as the United Arab Emirates, before seeking help from Russia in early 2017. The field normally produces 315,000 barrels of crude per day — nearly a third of Libya’s overall output — but had been shut down for nearly two months by armed groups.– Towards Tripoli –