"Maximum restraint". This is what the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Unsmil, is asking the parties, urging them to "avoid any military provocation" that could lead to an escalation after the recent mobilization of General Khalifa Haftar's troops. Unsmil "is monitoring with concern the recent mobilization of forces in various areas of Libya, particularly in the southern and western regions" and at the same time welcomes "the efforts underway to de-escalate and avoid further tensions".
The UN Mission hopes for "communication and coordination" between forces affiliated with Haftar's LNA - in which his son Saddam is a key figure - and the Tripoli government of unity, the internationally recognized executive.
Unsmil deplores how the "developments coincide with the 84th anniversary of the founding of the Libyan Army" and reminds "all military and security actors of the importance of unified, accountable and professional military and security institutions".
All after Haftar's forces announced on Wednesday a deployment of units in the southwestern regions of the country, where there was a clash with an armed group engaged in smuggling. According to military sources, most of the contingent is made up of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, whose objective is to guarantee movement in these areas to send support to fighters in northern Mali, where in recent days there have been bloody clashes with Tuareg rebels.
Yesterday, the Tripoli government raised the army's alert level amid fears of the mobilization of Haftar's forces. According to Libya Observer sources, the joint operations force has recalled all units to report "immediately" to their respective headquarters to repel "any possible attack".
The General Staff of the eastern Libyan authorities reported troops heading towards the southwestern border for a security mission in the desert and for border surveillance. An operation that "has no one as its target", according to Libyan TV Al Wasat.
Observers point out how some see the mobilization of Haftar's forces as a prelude to a possible new offensive on Tripoli. And above all how the eventual capture of Gadames, not far from the borders with Tunisia and Algeria, by the general's troops would lead to the end of the 2020 ceasefire.
Haftar already controls with his forces the east and south of Libya, a land of deposits in a country divided since the end of the Gaddafi era.
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