Govt retakes Haftar’s last redoubt in west
TARHOUNA, Libya: Forces loyal to Libya’s UN-recognized government celebrated another victory against rival strongman Khalifa Haftar Friday after overrunning his last western stronghold, launchpad of an abortive 14-month assault on Tripoli. The recapture of Tarhouna southeast of the capital capped a week that already saw the Government of National Accord (GNA) reestablish control over the whole of Greater Tripoli with Turkish military support.
“Our heroic forces have extended their control over the whole of Tarhouna,” said GNA spokesman Mohamad Gnounou. Fighters loyal to the GNA flashed the victory sign in the town’s streets, some with ammunition belts slung around their necks as they rode on top of pick up trucks, others clambering over a tank, AFP pictures showed.
Tarhouna was the main rear base for the devastating offensive against the capital that eastern-based Haftar’s forces finally gave up this week, abandoning their remaining positions in the southern suburbs to advancing government troops. “Our heroic forces have full control of Greater Tripoli right up to the city limits,” Gnounou had announced on Thursday.
GNA head Fayez Al-Sarraj vowed that his government would impose its control over the whole of Libya. “Our fight continues and we are determined to defeat the enemy (and) impose state control on the whole of the homeland,” Sarraj said after talks with key backer Turkey.
Late Thursday, Haftar’s spokesman Ahmad AlMesmari confirmed his forces’ “redeployment” away from the capital after more than a year of sometimes intense fighting. He said the redeployment was a “humanitarian gesture intended to spare the Libyan people further bloodshed”.
Hundreds have been killed and 200,000 more driven from their homes since Haftar launched his assault, vowing to “cleanse” the capital of the “terrorist militias” he said dominated the GNA. The proGNA high command warned its troops on Facebook against perpetrating “acts of reprisals, looting or destruction” in Tarhouna as their troops circulated in the town on Friday.
Mesmari said the redeployment by pro-Haftar forces was intended to boost the work of a UNbacked military commission tasked with shoring up a nationwide ceasefire. “We announce that we are redeploying our forces outside Tripoli on condition that the other side respects the ceasefire,” he said in a statement released late Thursday. “If they do not respect it, we will resume military operations and suspend our participation in the negotiations of the military committee.”
Located in the hills southeast of Tripoli, Tarhouna had functioned as a forward base for Haftar’s assault on the capital. Its swift fall suggests his foreign supporters were less willing to sustain his offensive once Turkey intervened. It has raised questions over Haftar’s predominant position in eastern Libya though few other figures there appear capable of holding together the coalition of forces he has assembled into the LNA.
Some Tarhouna residents fled east, and the Kani family, which had controlled it since 2014 also withdrew, LNA military sources said. Footage inside Tarhouna showed GNA forces there cheering and firing into the air. The GNA later said it had discovered more than 100 bodies in a morgue in the town and was investigating.
Later on Friday, the GNA said it had entered Bani Walid, a small town south of Tarhouna and site of an airfield. Two residents confirmed the GNA had entered it without opposition. “There could be a solution at the table, but Haftar’s forces are losing ground in every sense,” said a Turkish official.
The United Nations’ Libya mission said Tuesday that after a three-month suspension, the warring parties had agreed to resume ceasefire talks. A military commission made up of five GNA loyalists and five Haftar delegates held talks in February, but the dialogue was suspended. A January truce brokered by Turkey and key Haftar ally Russia has been repeatedly violated.
Haftar is supported by neighboring Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as well as Russia. His forces control the whole of eastern Libya, with its economically vital oilfields and export infrastructure. They also control most of the far-flung oasis cities of the vast desert south. But they have suffered a string of defeats in recent months at the hands of GNA forces, which have been bolstered by significant Turkish military support.
Earlier this year, Haftar’s forces already lost a string of towns along the Mediterranean coast between the capital and the Tunisian border. In April, UN experts said hundreds of mercenaries from Russian paramilitary organization the Wagner Group were fighting for him. But last month, as Haftar’s losses mounted, the GNA said Wagner Group fighters had withdrawn from combat zones south of the capital.
Libya has endured years of violence since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with rival administrations and scores of militias battling for power. The United Nations has urged outside powers to respect a deal reached at a January conference in Berlin, ending foreign meddling and upholding a much-violated arms embargo. Amnesty on Friday urged Turkey, Russia and the UAE to “cease violating the UN arms embargo”.