The international community should assume its responsibility for “halting funding terrorist groups in Tripoli,” spokesperson for the Libyan National Army (LNA) Ahmed al-Mismari said in a Friday press conference.
Mismari made his statement as the LNA tries to enter Tripoli, dominated by the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). He said the army has shelled terrorist camps in Tawergha and Ain Zara towns near Tripoli, as well as on the road towards Tripoli Airport.
The Skhirat Agreement, a UN-led initiative signed in 2015, stipulates that militias in Libya should be dissolved; however, executive authorities in Libya rely on militias and some countries support them.
He claimed that the GNA targeted residential homes more than once. Since its beginning, the crisis has killed at least 47 people, including two doctors, and wounded 181 others, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Tuesday.
Since the beginning of the military operation on April 4, the European Union and other international entities have called on the eastern army to put an end to the crisis in the capital.
“The military attack launched by the LNA on Tripoli and the subsequent escalation in and around the capital are endangering civilians, including migrants and refugees, and disrupting the U.N.-led political process, with the risk of serious consequences for Libya and the wider region, including the terrorist threat,” the EU top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said in a statement.
