UN mission in Libya urges immediate de-escalation in Tripoli

10/7/2025 6:12

The U.N. Mission in Libya

urged on Wednesday all Libyan parties to avoid actions or

political rhetoric that could trigger escalation or renewed

clashes in Tripoli, following reports of continued military

buildup in and around the city.



Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah ordered in May

the dismantling of what he called irregular armed groups, which

was followed by Tripoli's fiercest clashes in years between two

armed groups that killed at least eight civilians.



"The Mission continues its efforts to help de-escalate the

situation and calls on all parties to engage in good faith

towards this end ... Forces recently deployed in Tripoli must

withdraw without delay," the U.N. Mission said on social media.



A Tripoli-based Government of National Unity under

al-Dbeibah was installed through a U.N.-backed process in 2021

but the Benghazi-based House of Representatives no longer

recognises its legitimacy.



Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed

uprising ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi. The country

split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though

an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.



While eastern Libya has been dominated for a decade by

commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army, control

in Tripoli and western Libya has been splintered among numerous

armed factions.