UN: 220 killed in battles for Libya's capital last 2 weeks
Benghazi, Apr 20: Fighting between rival Libyan forces for control of Tripoli escalated in the past couple of days, a spokesman for the self-styled Libyan National Army said Saturday, as the death toll rose to at least 220, including combatants and civilians, since the LNA declared a major military offensive to take the capital earlier this month.
Fighting erupted April 5 pitting the LNA, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter and aligned with a rival government in the east, against militias affiliated with Tripoli's U.N.-supported government.
Ahmed al-Mesmari, LNA spokesman, told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi that heavy clashes have been underway between his forces and rival militias in the towns of Swany and al-Aziziya, south of Tripoli, which Hifter's forces seized earlier this month.
He said militias allied with the U.N.-supported government launched airstrikes on the Al Watiya air base, southwest of Tripoli. There were also airstrikes on the town of Gherian, he said.
Residents in Tripoli said Hifter's forces seem to be making small progress and gains on the ground. They said fighting has been ongoing in residential areas, a few kilometers (miles) south of Tripoli. Both sides have used heavy artillery and airstrikes, they said.
The residents spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The fighting has killed 220 people, including civilians, since Hifter declared his offensive on April 5, the U.N. health agency said Friday. The World Health Organization said that 1,066 others have been wounded.
President Donald Trump phoned Hifter earlier this week, expressing U.S. support for the leader's perceived stance against terrorism.
A White House statement Friday said: "The President recognized Field Marshal Haftar's significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya's oil resources, and the two discussed a shared vision for Libya's transition to a stable, democratic political system."
AP reporters saw Hifter's foreign minister Saturday in the Tunis hotel where he was staying, but the press conference he had scheduled was postponed at the last minute.
His press service distributed a statement saying it was because of "developments in Libya and the positive and fast-advancing evolution of events."
The statement did not elaborate but said a new press conference would be arranged at a later date. The Tunisian Foreign Ministry spokesman suggested that the Libyans hadn't requested permission from Tunisia's government to hold the news conference.
Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemais Jhinaoui has intensified contacts in recent days with U.N. envoy Salame and various Libyan parties, calling on them to cease hostilities and resume negotiations. Tunis is officially neutral in the Libyan conflict and has hosted repeated diplomatic negotiations on Libya's future.
Tunisia wants to hold a meeting among the top diplomats of Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia in the coming days to discuss ways to solve Libya's crisis.
The battle for Tripoli could ignite civil war on the scale of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Since Gahdafi's ouster, Libya has been governed by rival authorities in the east and in Tripoli, in the west, each backed by various militias and armed groups fighting over resources and territory.
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Sri Lanka recovers 87 bodies from Iranian warship sunk off its coast by US submarine
Colombo (AP): A US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka's navy said Wednesday it recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people.
The Iranian vessel that was sunk in the Indian Ocean was the Islamic Republic's “prize ship,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon news briefing. Hegseth said it was the first sinking of an enemy ship with a torpedo by the US since World War II.
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament that its navy received information that the IRIS Dena, with 180 people on board, was in distress and sinking. The island nation sent ships and air force planes on a rescue mission, he said.
Navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said by the time navy ships reached the location, there was no sign of the ship and “there were only some oil patches and life rafts. We found people floating on the water.”
He said the 32 people rescued were admitted to a hospital in the seaside town of Galle on the Sri Lanka's southern coast. The bodies recovered were being brought to land, he said.
Dr Anil Jasinghe, a top health ministry official, said one of those rescued is in critical condition, seven are receiving emergency treatment and others are being treated for minor injuries.
The IRIS Dena — one of Iran's newest warships — is a Moudge-class frigate that patrols in deep water for the Iranian navy. It is armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. It also carries one helicopter.
The frigate was the centerpiece of a two-ship international tour in 2023 that included port calls in countries including South Africa and Brazil. It was accompanied by the support ship IRIS Makran, a converted oil tanker.
The US Treasury Department included both ships on a sanctions designation in February 2023 along with eight executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer that supplied the weapons to Russia for use against civilian targets in Ukraine.
At least 17 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk during the ongoing war, said US Adm Brad Cooper, who leads the American military's Central Command.
“We are also sinking the Iranian navy — the entire navy,” he said in a video message.
