CAIRO - A Libyan force fighting to capture the country’s capital from the U.N.-supported government based there on Friday gave the militias defending Tripoli a three-day deadline to pull out. The self-styled Libyan National Army issued a statement demanding that the powerful Misrata militias, which are fighting on behalf of the government in the Libyan capital, withdraw from both Tripoli and the coastal city of Sirte. The Misrata militias are named after the western Libyan town of Misrata, which saw some of the heaviest fighting during the 2011 uprising that led to the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. For months, the LNA and the militias have been locked in fierce clashes on Tripoli’s southern outskirts, with the fighting mostly stalemated. Erdogan later said that Ankara could dispatch Turkish troops to assist the Tripoli-based government — if Sarraj’s Cabinet asks for them.

Source: thestar December 20, 2019 09:38 UTC