Clashes broke out overnight Sunday into Monday between two armed groups in the center of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, resulting in minor injuries to civilians, emergency services and media reported.

Firefights continued late into the night, even on busy streets in the city center, between these two organizations, which pledge allegiance to the Tripoli-based government of national unity (GNU): the “al-Rada” (“deterrence”) force and “Brigade 444”.

The most recent deadly clashes in the capital erupted in July 2022 and left 13 dead.

After the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, oil-rich Libya plunged into chaos and continues to be undermined by the action of a myriad of paramilitary organizations that tend to switch sides not infrequently.

Armored vehicles were deployed on Sunday evening in Tripoli after the arrest of a member of “Brigade 444” in the commercial street of Jraba, in the eastern part of the capital, and in the district of Ras Hassan, in the center of the city.

After a few hours of calm, heavy fire – light and heavy weapons – began to ring out in the eastern sectors of Tripoli, in particular in Ain Zara, Formaz and near the area of ​​the university of the capital, which decided to “close its gates (.. .) and suspend the exams’ that were to be held for security reasons.

Shots were fired at 03:00 [τοπική ώρα· 04:00 ώρα Ελλάδας]followed by ambulance sirens, an AFP journalist found.

An elderly man “was injured in the hand by shrapnel while leaving his home in Ain Zara by car,” Tripoli’s emergency center said on Facebook, adding that his ambulance was also damaged. Other civilians were slightly injured.

The Stability Support Authority (SSA), another armed force, intervened to stop the clashes and tried to mediate.

The clashes came as the Tripoli-based government has been carrying out drone strikes since last Thursday on targets in Zawiya, 45km west of the capital, officially against “trafficking” gangs, killing at least two people and injuring them. several others.

Two governments have been vying for power in Libya for the past year: the KEE, based in Tripoli (west), under the leadership of Abdelhamid Dbayba, recognized by the UN; the other based in the eastern part of the country, supported by the powerful Marshal Khalifa Haftar and the parliament, established in Tobruk.

The parliament yesterday denounced the strikes in Zawiya, which it says are an operation to “settle political scores rather than a fight against the traffickers as they are presented” by the Dubai government.

Reacting to the events of the last few days, the US embassy expressed its “concern about the use of weapons in civilian areas and the risk of escalation of violence”. “Libyan leaders must do everything within their power to de-escalate [της κατάστασης] and to take all necessary measures to protect the lives of civilians.”

For its part, the British embassy in Libya described as “unacceptable” the use of weapons in a way that “endangers the lives of civilians”, calling on “all those involved” to “de-escalate” the violence.