BENGHAZI, Libya/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Eastern Libyan forces will pursue their advance on the capital Tripoli, the head of the eastern parliament in the divided country said on Saturday, despite international calls for a halt in an offensive that risks causing many civilian casualties.

President of the eastern Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

His comments came an eastern air strike hit the yard of a school on the southern outskirts of Tripoli, where eastern forces have been confronted by forces allied to Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj’s internationally recognised government.

In a possible new front, the eastern Libya National Army (LNA) was readying a unit to move to the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil ports, Libya’s biggest, on the eastern coast, anticipating an attack from an armed group allied to Serraj, eastern military officials said.

“The force will strengthen the protection of the ports,” one official said, asking not to be named.

Last week the European Union had called on the LNA to stop its attacks, having agreed on a statement after France and Italy sparred over how to handle the conflict.

But the eastern parliament head said they would press an offensive launched a week ago under military commander Khalifa Haftar, the latest outbreak of a cycle of conflict since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.

“We need to get rid of militias and terrorist groups,” Aguila Saleh, head of the House of Representatives allied to Haftar, said using a reference eastern officials often make to describe forces allied to the Tripoli government, which relies on support from several armed groups.

“We assure the residents of Tripoli that the campaign to liberate Tripoli will be limited and not violate any freedoms but restore security and fight terrorism,” Saleh told lawmakers in a session in the main eastern city of Benghazi.

For its part the Tripoli government will agree to a ceasefire only if the LNA troops return back east, government spokesman Mohanad Younes told reporters.

Forces loyal to al-Serraj’s government have so far kept the eastern offensive at bay. Fierce fighting has broken out around a disused former airport about 11 km (7 miles) from the centre.

An eastern military source said a warplane belonging to the LNA had struck a military camp in an eastern Tripoli suburb.

In a separate strike the yard of a primary school was hit, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. A LNA official said the plane had targeted a camp of Serraj’s forces.

Saleh also said the United Nations mission to Libya and Serraj’s government had been controlled by armed groups and had failed to expel them from the capital, and promised Libya would hold long-delayed elections after the Tripoli operation ends.

Haftar’s offensive had surprised the United Nations, which had been planning to hold a national conference on April 14 to prepare Libya for elections.

The latest battle had by Friday killed 75 people, mainly fighters but including 17 civilians, and wounded another 323, according to U.N. tallies. Some 13,625 people have been forced out of their homes.

As well as the humanitarian cost, the conflict threatens to disrupt oil supplies, boost migration to Europe, scupper a U.N. peace plan, and allow Islamist militants to exploit the chaos.

Haftar, 75, a former general in Gaddafi’s army who later joined the revolt against him, moved his troops out of their eastern stronghold to take the oil-rich desert south earlier this year, before sweeping up to Tripoli at the start of April.</s>Libya's Aguila Saleh, speaker of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives, said on Saturday that the Libyan people will head to the polls after the capital Tripoli is liberated.

He called on Libyans to stand by the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Khalifa Haftar.

Saleh’s statement came during a parliamentary session held in Benghazi in eastern Libya, which is under the control of Haftar’s forces.

Saleh said: “We will be going to the polls after liberating Tripoli,” calling on the international community to protect Libya’s money and to lift the weapons embargo on the National Army.

He also pointed out Libya’s keenness to cooperate with the international community to combat terrorism.

Haftar, 75, a former general in Gaddafi’s army who later joined the revolt against him, moved his troops out of their eastern stronghold to take the oil-rich desert south earlier this year before sweeping up to Tripoli at the start of April.

But Serraj’s national accord government has managed to halt the advance for now, aided by forces with machine-guns on pickups and steel containers across the road into Tripoli.

The Tripoli government says it has taken nearly 200 prisoners from Haftar’s forces, according to Reuters.

The United Nations, which had hoped to organize a national conference this month bringing the rival eastern and western administrations together to organize an election, has called for a ceasefire.

The United States, G7 bloc of wealthy nations and European Union have also urged the LNA to halt its offensive.

Tripoli-based Foreign Minister Mohamed Siyala urged the UN Security Council to call on Haftar to halt the advance.

The UN health agency said it fears outbreaks of tuberculosis, measles and diarrhoea due to poor sanitation, especially among those displaced.

Libya has been gripped by conflict and paralyzed by political deadlock since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.</s>Fighting near Tripoli has killed 121 people since strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive earlier this month to take the Libyan capital, the World Health Organization said Sunday.

In clashes between Haftar's forces and those of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), both sides have proclaimed "advances" but neither appears to have taken a substantial lead on the ground in recent days.

With more than 560 people wounded since the fighting started on April 4, WHO said it was sending more medical supplies and staff to Tripoli.

The UN organisation denounced "repeated attacks on health care workers" and vehicles during the fighting, in messages on its Libya Twitter feed.

"Three medical personnel have been killed and five ambulances have been incapacitated by shrapnel," the UN's office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said in a Saturday statement.

The mounting violence has sparked global alarm about the oil-rich country that has been in turmoil since NATO-backed forces overthrew former dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

In the chaos since, a bewildering array of militias have been seeking to take control, and fighting has flared again shortly before a conference had been scheduled to discuss Libya's future, an event since cancelled.

Haftar, who leads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), has pushed from his power base in the country's east toward the Libyan capital in the west, the seat of the UN-backed unity government led by Fayez al-Sarraj.

Haftar has the support of key Gulf Arab states, Egypt and Russia.

On Sunday he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, where the duo were "discussing the latest developments in Libya" according to state media.

With gunfire now echoing through city blocks and tanks rumbling through towns and districts south of Tripoli, many panicked residents have fled their homes.

More than 13,500 people had been displaced and over 900 are now living in shelters, said OCHA.

Both sides have launched daily air raids and accuse each other of targeting civilians.

One air strike which the GNA blames on Haftar's forces hit a school in Ain Zara, south of Tripoli, which has been the scene of violent clashes for days.

On Sunday, the UN mission in Libya warned that international humanitarian law "prohibits the bombing of schools, hospitals, ambulances and civilian areas".

The mission warned that it would document all breaches in order to inform the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court.

The LNA meanwhile accused the Tripoli-based forces of an air raid "targeting civilians" in the Gasr Ben Ghachir region, 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Tripoli.

GNA spokesman Mohamed Gnounou said his forces had carries out 21 air strikes targeting LNA positions and supply lines between Friday and Saturday.

Gnounou late on Saturday claimed "great advances on all fronts", including in Al-Aziziya, a city about 50 kilometres south of Tripoli.

"We have not started this war," he said, "but we will decide the time and place of its end."

On the LNA's side meanwhile, spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari said the attacking forces were also "moving forward on all fronts".

He reiterated his claim that "terrorists" and "criminals" were fighting on the side of the UN-backed GNA forces.

"The decision is no longer in Sarraj's hands," he said. "It is in the hands of terrorists now."

The European Union expressed its "concern" on Thursday at the involvement of "terrorist and criminal elements" in the fighting.

Sarraj denounced the "misinformation campaign by some parties that our forces include fighters belonging to terrorist organisations and groups".

In a statement he "strongly denied" the claim and insisted that it was the LNA attack on the capital that was "paving the way the way for dormant terrorist cells" to attack Libyans.
Aguila Saleh, the chairman of the Tobruk-based Libyan parliament that rivals the Government of National Accord, stated that the parliament's Libyan National Army will continue advancing on Tripoli in spite of international calls for them to stop the offensive.