UAE, US call for calm as Haftar troops near Tripoli

Tripoli/Benghazi (Libya) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi.

The governments of the UAE, France, Italy, UK, and the US, on Thursday said that they are deeply concerned about the fighting around the Libyan city of Gharyan and called on all parties to stop the escalation immediately.
“At this critical moment of transition in Libya, taking the military position and threats of unilateral action will only risk dragging Libya into chaos,” the five governments said in a statement issued by the State Department in Washington.
“We strongly believe that there is no military solution to the conflict in Libya,” they said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi on Friday in a bid to avert renewed civil war as his forces advanced on the capital Tripoli to challenge the government.
The military thrust by Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) is allied to a parallel administration based in the east. LNA forces on Thursday took Gharyan, about 80km south of Tripoli after skirmishes with forces allied to Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez Al Serraj.
 

• MENA