Turkey and Russia yesterday called on all parties in Libya to stop hostilities and declare a ceasefire at midnight on January 12, after talks between presidents Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin in Istanbul.
Turkey has backed Fayez al-Serraj’s Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), while Russia has sent forces to back General Khalifa Haftar’s opposing forces to the east. Ankara has said it will send troops to Libya upon the GNA’s request.
In a joint statement, Turkey and Russia called on parties in Libya to “declare a sustainable ceasefire, supported by the necessary measures to be taken for stabilizing the situation on the ground and normalizing daily life in Tripoli and other cities.”
Meanwhile, East Libya-based forces said they carried out air strikes yesterday on a coastal road west of Sirte, a day after nine of their men were killed in a strike by rivals. The Libyan National Army (LNA) took control of Sirte, a strategically important city in the center of Libya’s Mediterranean coastline, in a rapid advance on Monday and is seeking to consolidate gains.
Since April, the LNA has also been waging a campaign to take the capital, Tripoli, about 370km (230 miles) northwest of Sirte, where it is battling forces aligned with the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA).
GNA forces said they withdrew from Sirte to avoid bloodshed. Those forces are mainly from the port of Misrata, 190km east of Tripoli, and had controlled Sirte since driving Islamic State from the city in late 2016.
On Tuesday afternoon, clashes broke out around al-Washka, on the road between Sirte and Misrata, where LNA sources said nine of their men were killed in an evening drone strike.
On Wednesday, the LNA responded with strikes near the Abu Grein checkpoint, close to al-Washka, where clashes were continuing, LNA military officials said.
Libya has been divided since 2014 into rival camps based in Tripoli and the east, each with its own set of institutions, and Haftar’s offensive against Tripoli upended U.N. efforts to broker a political settlement.