Armed groups mobilise and exchange fire in tense TripoliGunfire could be heard over Tripoli on Thursday as armed groups mobilised heavy weapons and took up positions in several parts of the Libyan capital. Tripoli is controlled by a patchwork of armed groups, some with a quasi official status. Fighting is often sparked by turf wars or revenge attacks, while armed groups are also divided between those that support a U.N.-backed government that arrived in the capital in March and those that oppose it. After the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, Libya splintered into rival fiefdoms controlled by groups originally made up of former rebels. The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying France was "very worried by the escalation of violence between armed groups in Tripoli".

Source: Libya Today December 02, 2016 08:40 UTC