According to local media, fighting broke out between the 444 brigade and the Special Deterrence Force late on Monday evening. OPSGroup, an organisation for the aviation industry, said late on Monday that a large number of aircraft departed the capital due to the clashes. Inbound flights were diverting to the nearby city of Misrata, it said. Longstanding divisions have sparked several incidents of violence in Tripoli in recent years, although most have been over in a matter of hours. The U.S. and British embassies in Libya both issued online statements expressing their concerns about the escalating violence around Tripoli.
