Egypt’s Parliament Speaker, Ali Abdel Aal, urged on Tuesday against foreign interference in Libya and for reaching a peaceful settlement to rebuild the war-torn country, the official MENA news agency reported.
The battle for the Libyan city of Tripoli saw casualties rise to 47 deaths and 181 injuries on Tuesday, according to the World Health Organization.
As General Khalifa Haftar attempted to take Tripoli from an internationally recognised government, the long-planned UN-backed conference which aimed at finding a way out of the eight-year conflict, was postponed.
“We cannot ask people to take part in the conference during gunfire and airstrikes,” the UN Envoy, Ghassan Salame, told the news agency AFP.
The United Nations strongly condemned an escalation of violence in Libya on Monday and urged for the fighting to stop following an airstrike east of the capital Tripoli.
In a statement, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, urged “the immediate halt of all military operations in order to de-escalate the situation and prevent an all-out conflict.”
Guterres also said he “strongly condemns the military escalation and the ongoing fighting in and around Tripoli, including the aerial attack today by a Libyan National Army (LNA) aircraft against Mitiga airport.”
An airstrike on the airport outside of Tripoli shut down the capital’s only functioning airport. The attack was later claimed by Haftar and his LNA, who said they targeted a military plane and a helicopter.
Last week, fighting between pro-government troops and militias in Libya escalated after the LNA launched a military offensive in order to capture Tripoli.
The Tripoli-based government has accused Haftar of betraying a UN-backed transition deal that was agreed on last year. The deal included holding national elections by the end of 2019.
The authority of Libya’s UN-backed government is not recognised by a parallel government in the east of the country.
Libya has been rocked by violence and deadly power struggles between several armed groups since NATO-backed rebels overthrew dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
