TRIPOLI (Libya), April 5 — Libya has been mired in chaos since the ouster and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with two rival authorities and a multitude of militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.

Strongman Khalifa Haftar’s forces were pushed back today from a key checkpoint less than 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Tripoli, checking their lightning advance on the capital, seat of the country’s internationally recognised unity government.

Here is a timeline of the Mediterranean country’s descent into turmoil:

Triggered by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, demonstrations erupt in Libya in February 2011. A coalition led by Washington, Paris and London lends its backing to an armed revolt.

Kadhafi, in power for 42 years, flees the capital. He is captured and killed on October 20, 2011 during a battle for his hometown Sirte, east of Tripoli.

Three days later, the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) declares Libya’s “total liberation”.

In August 2012 the NTC hands power to a transitional authority elected a month earlier — the General National Congress (GNC).

US ambassador Chris Stevens and three American staff are killed in a September 11, 2012 attack on their consulate in Libya’s second city Benghazi. An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group is blamed.

A car bomb in April 2013 targets France’s embassy in Tripoli, wounding two French guards.

Most foreign delegations withdraw from the country.

Dissident army general Haftar launches an offensive in May 2014 against jihadist groups in Benghazi. He is backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Several military officers from the east join his self-styled Libyan National Army.

As nationalists and Islamists vie for power, legislative elections are held in June and the GNC is replaced by a parliament dominated by anti-Islamists.

Islamist-led militias contest the results and group under the banner of “Fajr Libya” (Libya Dawn). They storm Tripoli in August, installing their own “national salvation” government and restoring the GNC.

The elected house, which has international recognition, takes refuge in the eastern city of Tobruk near the border with Egypt.

Thus the country finds itself with two governments and two parliaments.

After months of negotiations and international pressure, lawmakers from the rival parliaments sign an accord in December 2015 in Morocco to set up a UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).

In March 2016, GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj arrives in Tripoli to set up the new government, but Haftar’s rival administration refuses to recognise its authority.

In July 2017, Sarraj and Haftar meet for talks near Paris where they agree to a ceasefire and commit to elections the following year.

In May 2018, weeks after suicide attackers from the Islamic State group kill 14 people at Libya’s electoral commission, the two men meet again in the French capital and commit to holding parliamentary and presidential polls at the end of the year.

In June 2018, a militia attacks two north-eastern oil sites under Haftar’s control through which oil is exported.

After days of fighting, Haftar’s forces announce they are back in “full control” and have also seized the city of Derna from radical Islamists.

In January 2019 Haftar launches an offensive into oil-rich southern Libya, ostensibly aimed at wiping out “terrorists” and criminal groups.

His forces seize the region’s capital Sebha and one of the country’s main oil fields without a fight.

On February 28 the UN says Libya’s rivals have met and agreed to hold polls.

In March the UN says it will organise an all-party conference the next month to draw up a “road map” for Libya, including setting dates for legislative and presidential elections.

Later in March the African Union says it will host a “reconciliation” conference in July aimed at uniting Libya’s political rivals.

On Wednesday, Haftar’s forces announce they are gearing up to move on the west of the country including Tripoli.

A day later powerful armed groups from the western city of Misrata, loyal to the Tripoli government, vow to block the threatened advance.

UN chief Antonio Guterres expresses deep concern over the risk of a major flare-up in Libya.

Haftar orders his troops to advance on Tripoli, saying “the time has come”.

The strongman’s forces seize a key security barrier within 27 kilometres of the capital later that day without any fighting, General Abdessalem al-Hassi says.

But today, a security source says militiamen from the nearby coastal town of Zawiya retake the base after “a short exchange of fire”. — AFP</s>CAIRO, April 4 (Reuters) - Eastern Libyan forces have fully secured the town of Gharyan south of the capital Tripoli and have arrived in the area of al-Heira, a spokesman for the force said on Thursday.

Eastern force commander Khalifa Haftar had earlier announced the start of an operation to take the capital. (Reporting by Omar Fahmy and Hesham Hajali Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Andrew Heavens)</s>BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Militias in western Libya vowed Friday to confront a rival army commander's attempt to seize the capital, Tripoli, raising fears of renewed civil war in the oil-rich nation as the U.N. chief shuttled between the two sides, seeking to avert a major confrontation.

The escalation comes after forces of Khalifa Hifter, who runs the self-styled Libya National Army that is based in the country's east, pushed westward, bringing them closer to rival militias, which control Tripoli.

A showdown between Hifter's army and the militias could plunge Libya into another spasm of violence, possibly the worst since the 2011 civil war that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

It would also put at risk upcoming peace talks between Libyan rivals brokered by the U.N. and aimed at drawing a roadmap for new elections. Those talks are due April 14-16.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency closed-door meeting on Friday afternoon at Britain's request to discuss the unfolding developments.

Hifter's troops on Thursday captured the town of Gharyan, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Tripoli without a fight, putting them closer to the militias than ever before.

Hifter then ordered his forces to march on the capital, saying in an audio recording posted online: "We are coming Tripoli, we are coming." He also urged his forces to enter the city peacefully and only raise their weapons "in the face of those who seek injustice and prefer confrontation and fighting."

Hifter's spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmari said later the army's next stop would be the town of al-Aziziya, considered the gates of Tripoli.

In response, the militias from the western cities of Zawiya and Misarata, which control Tripoli, posted on social media early Friday that they're mobilizing to confront Hifter.

"We are the revolutionaries and the elders ... we declare we are on full mobilization and war," they said.

The prospect of a renewed fighting comes as U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres is visiting Libya. Early Friday, Guterres posted that he's flying from Tripoli to the east. It's unclear if he will be meeting with Hifter, who is based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

On Thursday, Guterres appealed for "military and political and verbal de-escalation — and the recognition that ... there is no military solution for the problems in Libya."

"My aim remains the same: avoid a military confrontation," he said Friday on Twitter. "I reiterate that there is no military solution for the Libyan crisis, only a political one."

Since Gadhafi's ouster, Libya has been split between rival governments in the east and west and an array of militias fighting over power and oil fields.

Associated Press writer Maggie Michael in Cairo contributed to this report.</s>BENGHAZI, Libya — The Latest on developments in Libya (all times local):

The Kremlin says that Russia isn’t supporting Libyan army commander Khalifa Hifter who has ordered his forces to march on the country’s capital, Tripoli.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized on Friday the need “to avoid actions that would lead to the resumption of bloodshed.”

He told reporters that “it’s necessary to take every possible effort to achieve a full settlement through peaceful diplomatic means” in Libya.

Asked if Russia was supporting Hifter, Peskov said: “No, Moscow isn’t involved in that in any way.”

Hifter on Thursday ordered his forces to march on Tripoli, the seat of Libya’s U.N.-backed government, sparking fears of a major showdown with rival militias.

Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, says an escalation in Libya puts at risk the stability along the southern rim of the Mediterranean Sea.

Salvini told reporters on the sidelines of a G-7 meeting in France on Friday that he’s “very worried about Libya” and added that “the balance of the entire Mediterranean is at stake.”

He says no country should interfere for its own “economic and commercial interests” — comments likely were aimed at whoever is backing the commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army, Khalifa Hiftar, who ordered his forces on Thursday to take over the capital, Tripoli.

Salvini said he told his G-7 allies: “We need to throw water on the fire and not gasoline.”

The Italian also said he had a bilateral with the American delegation, which said that they were trusting in Italy for stability of the area.

Libyan militias in the country’s west are vowing to confront a rival army commander’s attempt to seize the capital, Tripoli, raising the prospect of renewed civil war.

The advancing forces of Khalifa Hifter, who runs the self-styled Libya National Army based in the country’s east, have sparked fears of a major showdown with the militias that control Tripoli.

The militias from the western cities of Zawiya and Misarata posted on social media early on Friday that they’re mobilizing to confront Hifter, hours after he ordered his fighters to march on Tripoli.

They posted: “We are the revolutionaries and the elders … we declare we are on full mobilization and war.”

Since the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed Moammar Gadhafi, Libya has slid into chaos and frequent spasms of violence.</s>U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi on Friday in a bid to avert renewed civil war as his forces advanced on the capital Tripoli to challenge the internationally recognized government.

The military thrust by Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which is allied to a parallel administration based in the east, marked a dangerous escalation of a power struggle that has dragged on since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

LNA forces on Thursday took Gharyan, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Tripoli after skirmishes with forces allied to Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj. But they failed to take a checkpoint about 30 km west of the capital in a bid to close the coastal road to Tunisia.

An LNA-allied militia withdrew overnight from so-called Gate 27, leaving it abandoned in the morning, a Reuters reporter said. In another setback, forces allied to Tripoli took 145 LNA fighters prisoner in Zawiya, west of Tripoli, a western commander, Mohamed Alhudair, told Reuters. An LNA source confirmed 128 had been captured.

Sixty vehicles had also been seized, Alhudairi said. Meanwhile armed groups allied to the U.N.-backed Tripoli government moved more machinegun-mounted pickups from the coastal city of Misrata to Tripoli to defend it against Haftar’s forces.

The escalation surprised the United Nations, whose Secretary-General Guterres had been in Tripoli this week to help organize a national reconciliation conference planned for later this month. Guterres, who spent Thursday night in the heavily fortified U.N. compound in a Tripoli suburb, flew to Benghazi and drove to Haftar’s base, witnesses said.

He earlier went to Tobruk, another eastern city, to meet Aguila Saleh, president of the House of Representatives, which is also allied to Haftar. “My aim remains the same; avoid a military confrontation.

I reiterate that there is no military solution for the Libyan crisis, only a political one,” Guterres said on Twitter. On Thursday, Saleh welcomed the offensive. After the meeting with Guterres, his spokesman said they had discussed ways to end the crisis and the planned conference, without giving details.

Haftar enjoys the backing of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which see him as bulwark against Islamists and have supported him militarily, according to U.N. reports. The UAE, however, joined Western countries in expressing its deep concern about the fighting.

Germany called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council due to the military escalation. Russia said it was not helping Haftar’s forces and it supported a negotiated political settlement that ruled out any new bloodshed.

Former colonial power Italy, which lies across the Mediterranean from Libya, was very worried by the turn of events, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said. “We need to throw water on the fire, not petrol on the fire.

I hope that people, acting out of economic or business self-interest, is not looking for a military solution, which would be devastating,” Salvini said. Tunisia has tightened control on its border with Libya in response to the renewed conflict, the defense ministry said.

The United Nations and Western countries were already trying to mediate between Serraj and Haftar, who met in Abu Dhabi last month to discuss a power-sharing deal.

The conference the United Nations is helping to organize is aimed at forging agreement on a road map for elections to resolve the prolonged instability in Libya, an oil producer and transit point for refugees and migrants trekking across the Sahara with the aim of reaching Europe.</s>The UN Security Council on Friday called on forces under the command of Khalifa Haftar to halt an offensive against Tripoli amid concern a battle for Libya's capital could unleash greater instability.

Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) on Thursday launched an assault on Tripoli, held by the UN-backed government and multiple armed militias.

Read more: Libya: The road from revolution to civil war

The offensive by the LNA, which is aligned with a parallel administration in the east of the country, threatens to escalate a civil war that has split the country following the ouster of Muammar Gadhafi in 2011.

The council "called on LNA forces to halt all military movements," German UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, president of the council for April, told reporters following a closed door session of the body.

"They also called on all forces to de-escalate and halt military activity. There can be no military solution to the conflict," he said.

"The members of the Security Council expressed deep concern at the military activity near Tripoli which risks Libyan stability and prospects for UN mediation and a comprehensive political solution to the crisis," he added.

The call came as the LNA clashed south of Tripoli with militias aligned with the internationally-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez Sarraj.

The LNA said Friday its forces had captured the former international airport south of the capital, a claim denied by the Tripoli-based interior minister.

Haftar's forces have quickly advanced towards the southern outskirts of the capital in recent days as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in Libya to push for a national conference scheduled for later this month to develop a roadmap for delayed parliamentary and presidential elections aimed at uniting the country.

After talking with GNA officials in Tripoli, Guterres went to the eastern city of Tobruk on Friday to meet the president of the Libyan House of Representatives. He then met with Haftar in Benghazi in a bid to avert a "bloody confrontation" over Tripoli.

UN envoy Ghassan Salame told the Security Council on Friday that Haftar made clear to Guterres that he intended to continue the assault on Tripoli, diplomats said.

Haftar has presented himself as a seasoned nationalist commander capable of taking on an array Islamist militias, some of which back the Tripoli-based government. He has vowed to clear Tripoli of what he describes as "terrorists," but his critics say he intends strongarm his way to power.

Since 2014, Haftar's forces have wrested control of Libya's oil crescent from mostly government-aligned militias and Islamist groups in the east where oil fields and export terminals are located. Earlier this year, his forces launched an offensive into oil-rich southern Libya and secured border crossings.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - The U.N. secretary-general said he was “deeply concerned” after meeting eastern commander Khalifa Haftar in Libya on Friday to try to avert renewed civil war as forces advanced on Tripoli to challenge the internationally recognized government.

Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) said in the evening it had taken control of Tripoli international airport.

The thrust by the LNA, allied to a parallel administration based in the east, is a dangerous escalation of a power struggle that has dragged on since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

“I leave Libya with a heavy heart and deeply concerned. I still hope it is possible to avoid a bloody confrontation in and around Tripoli,” U.N. head Antonio Guterres said on Twitter.

“The U.N. is committed to facilitating a political solution and, whatever happens, the U.N. is committed to supporting the Libyan people.”

Al-Arabiya TV said Haftar told Guterres that the operation would continue until terrorism is defeated.

Tripoli is the ultimate prize for Haftar’s eastern parallel government. In 2014, he assembled former Gaddafi soldiers and in a three-year battle seized the main eastern city of Benghazi, then this year took the south with its oilfields.

The escalation surprised the United Nations. Guterres had been in the capital this week to help organize a national reconciliation conference planned for later this month.

But on Thursday LNA forces took Gharyan, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Tripoli after skirmishes with forces allied to Tripoli-based, U.N.-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.

They further moved north coming as close as 40 km to Tripoli by taking the village of Suq al-Khamis after some fighting, a resident and an eastern military source said.

In the evening, the LNA said they had taken control of the areas of Qasr ben Ghashir and Wadi al-Rabie on the southern ouskirts of Tripoli, near the former Tripoli International Airport, closed since a city battle in 2014.

There was no independent confirmation, but a video posted online purportedly showed LNA fighters inside Qasr ben Ghashir.

They failed, however, to take a checkpoint about 30 km west of the capital in a bid to close the coastal road to Tunisia. An LNA-allied armed group withdrew overnight from so-called Gate 27, leaving it abandoned in the morning, a Reuters reporter said.

In another setback, forces allied to Tripoli took 145 LNA fighters prisoner in Zawiya, west of Tripoli, a western commander, Mohamed Alhudair, told Reuters. An LNA source confirmed 128 had been captured.

Sixty vehicles had also been seized, Alhudairi said.

Meanwhile armed groups allied to the U.N.-backed Tripoli government moved more machinegun-mounted pickups from the coastal city of Misrata to Tripoli to defend it against Haftar’s forces.

Guterres, who spent Thursday night in the heavily fortified U.N. compound in a Tripoli suburb, flew to Benghazi and drove to Haftar’s base, witnesses said.

He earlier went to Tobruk, another eastern city, to meet Aguila Saleh, president of the House of Representatives, which is also allied to Haftar.

“My aim remains the same: avoid a military confrontation,” Guterres earlier said on Twitter.

The offensive is a setback for the United Nations and Western countries trying to mediate between Serraj and Haftar, who met in Abu Dhabi last month to discuss a power-sharing deal.

The conference the United Nations wants to organize is aimed at forging agreement on a road map for elections to resolve the prolonged instability in Libya, an oil producer and transit point for refugees and migrants trekking across the Sahara with the aim of reaching Europe.

Haftar enjoys the backing of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which see him as a bulwark against Islamists and have supported him militarily, according to U.N. reports.

The UAE, however, joined Western countries in expressing its deep concern about the fighting.

Germany called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council due to the military escalation.

Russia said it was not helping Haftar’s forces and it supported a negotiated political settlement that ruled out any new bloodshed.

Tunisia has tightened control on its border with Libya in response to the renewed conflict, the defense ministry said.

Former colonial power Italy, which lies across the Mediterranean from Libya and has been a destination for migrants fleeing the chaos at home, was very worried by the turn of events, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said.

“We need to throw water on the fire, not petrol on the fire. I hope that people, acting out of economic or business self-interest, are not looking for a military solution, which would be devastating,” Salvini said.</s>BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — The Latest on developments in Libya (all times local):

The European Union is calling for calm in Libya and warns the situation could spiral out of control as militia forces are vowing to respond to any attempt by a rival army commander to seize the capital, Tripoli.

EU commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said on Friday that "we are deeply concerned by the military build-up that is underway in Libya and the escalatory rhetoric which seriously risks leading to an uncontrollable confrontation."

Kocijancic says that the EU calls "on all parties to immediately de-escalate the situation and cease all acts of provocation."

EU foreign ministers will discuss development in Libya at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday. Kocjancic underlined the EU's support for the U.N. envoy to Libya and said that an upcoming national conference in the conflict-ravaged country is a "historic opportunity" to move forward and must be seized.

The Kremlin says that Russia isn't supporting Libyan army commander Khalifa Hifter who has ordered his forces to march on the country's capital, Tripoli.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized on Friday the need "to avoid actions that would lead to the resumption of bloodshed."

He told reporters that "it's necessary to take every possible effort to achieve a full settlement through peaceful diplomatic means" in Libya.

Asked if Russia was supporting Hifter, Peskov said: "No, Moscow isn't involved in that in any way."

Hifter on Thursday ordered his forces to march on Tripoli, the seat of Libya's U.N.-backed government, sparking fears of a major showdown with rival militias.

Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini, says an escalation in Libya puts at risk the stability along the southern rim of the Mediterranean Sea.

Salvini told reporters on the sidelines of a G-7 meeting in France on Friday that he's "very worried about Libya" and added that "the balance of the entire Mediterranean is at stake."

He says no country should interfere for its own "economic and commercial interests" — comments likely were aimed at whoever is backing the commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army, Khalifa Hiftar, who ordered his forces on Thursday to take over the capital, Tripoli.

Salvini said he told his G-7 allies: "We need to throw water on the fire and not gasoline."

The Italian also said he had a bilateral with the American delegation, which said that they were trusting in Italy for stability of the area.

Libyan militias in the country's west are vowing to confront a rival army commander's attempt to seize the capital, Tripoli, raising the prospect of renewed civil war.

The advancing forces of Khalifa Hifter, who runs the self-styled Libya National Army based in the country's east, have sparked fears of a major showdown with the militias that control Tripoli.

The militias from the western cities of Zawiya and Misarata posted on social media early on Friday that they're mobilizing to confront Hifter, hours after he ordered his fighters to march on Tripoli.

They posted: "We are the revolutionaries and the elders ... we declare we are on full mobilization and war."

Since the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed Moammar Gadhafi, Libya has slid into chaos and frequent spasms of violence.</s>BENGHAZI, Libya - The U.N. chief expressed concern Thursday about a possible major armed showdown over Libya’s capital, urging rival factions to instead turn to dialogue as forces loyal to a self-proclaimed army commander captured a town near Tripoli.

The remarks by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres came during his visit to Libya, which began Wednesday. It’s the first by a U.N. chief since the 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed Libya’s long-time ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

Guterres, who is to hold a presser in Tripoli later on Thursday, said on Twitter that he is “deeply concerned by the military movement taking place in Libya and the risk of confrontation.”

“There is no military solution,” he said. “Only intra-Libyan dialogue can solve Libyan problems.”

But on the ground, forces loyal to strongman Marshal Khalifa Hifter, who commands the self-styled Libya National Army that’s based in the country’s east, took control overnight of the town of Gharyan, 50 kilometres (31 miles) from Tripoli, without major clashes.</s>Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar reached a security barrier just 27 kilometers from the capital Tripoli late Thursday, according to an AFP journalist.

General Abdessalem al-Hassi, head of operations for Haftar’s Libyan National Army in the eastern region, said his forces had seized the roadblock without any fighting.

Haftar’s forces announced Wednesday they were gearing up for an offensive in the west of the country to purge it of “terrorists and mercenaries”, having seized key areas of the country’s south since the start of the year.

Meanwhile, Britain on Thursday requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting on Libya after the leader of forces in the east ordered his troops to advance on Tripoli, diplomats said.

The council is expected to hold a closed-door meeting on Friday following the order from Khalifa Haftar, a key player opposed to the government in the capital.
Libyan National Army forces continue to advance on the Libyan capital Tripoli, capturing the city of Gharyan, with only light resistance reported. General Khalifa Haftar has ordered the LNA to seize control of Tripoli, prompting the Tripoli-based Presidential Council to declare a general mobilization.