(21 May 2019) Clashes continued on Tuesday in areas south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, with heavy artillery shelling carrying on all day.
Fighters loyal to the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter are battling to take control of the capital, but are facing fierce resistance from the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) forces.
The UN envoy for Libya warned Tuesday that the oil-rich nation "is on the verge of descending into a civil war" which could divide the country and imperil the security of its neighbours and the wider Mediterranean region.
Ghassan Salame told the Security Council that extremists from the Islamic State and al-Qaida are already exploiting the security vacuum sparked by the offensive to take the capital Tripoli launched April 4 by Hifter's LNA.
He said the black flags of the Islamic State extremist group were appearing in southern Libya and there have been four attacks by its fighters in the south since April 4, which have killed 17 people, wounded more than 10 and led to eight kidnappings.
Civil war in Libya in 2011 toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and the chaos that followed resulted in a divided country, with a UN-aligned, but weak, administration in Tripoli overseeing the country's west and a government in the east aligned with Hifter.
Each is backed by an array of militias and armed groups fighting over resources and territory.
Salame lamented that when Hifter launched the offensive on April 4 "the capital was enjoying a measure of increased security, the population a much more stable currency and an improved economic outlook, and the political process, despite many obstacles, was moving forward" with a national conference days away to chart a roadmap to elections and a united future for Libya.
But 48 days into Hifter's offensive, he said, more than 460 people have died, including 29 civilians, over 2,400 mainly civilians have been wounded, and over 75,000 civilians have been forced from their homes.
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