At least two people were killed and several wounded after clashes broke out early Saturday between rival militias in Tripoli, a medical source told The Libya Update.
According to multiple press reports, one of those killed was identified as Mustafa Baraka, an actor and comedian known for his social media videos. Baraka died after he was shot in the chest and his body was taken to a Tripoli hospital, reported The Washington Post.
Footage circulated online showed houses and vehicles apparently damaged from the fighting.
The violence was the latest escalation to threaten the relative peace after nearly a decade of civil war in Libya, where two rival sets of authorities are locked in a political stalemate.
The rivalry over Libya’s leadership between the two began when 60-year-old Fathi Bashagha was selected by the House of Representatives to lead the country as interim premier last February, thus effectively terminating the legislative legitimacy of his 63-year-old rival Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh whose government failed to hold national elections in December 2021 as per the U.N.-led peace plan. Dbeibeh refused to relinquish power and remains recognized as the country’s leader by the international community.
Both Bashagha and Dbeibeh are backed by powerful armed groups in the capital, which have been mobilizing in the past week, leading the United Nations Mission in Libya to warn against any attempt to resolve the dispute through violence.
UN warns against use of violence to resolve legitimacy claims in Libya