Rocket attacks struck the Libyan capital overnight, local media reported, as military units continued to line up for and against a retired army officer who earlier this week tried to sideline the legislature.
Shells hit an air defence base in Tripoli hours after the air defence command announced its support for retired Colonel Khalifa Haftar, the Al-Wasat news portal reported. Rockets apparently aimed at an army special forces base also hit the Salaheddine area, with initial reports of two African migrant workers being killed, Al-Wasat reported separately.
Meanwhile pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat reported that Libya’s interim parliament, the General National Congress, had been unable to reach a quorum when it met Tuesday to approve the cabinet line-up proposed by prime minister-designate Ahmed Mieeteg.
Caretaker premier Abdullah al-Thini has called on the Islamist-dominated assembly to instead repeat its contested initial vote on Mieeteg’s appointment and then go into recess, as a move towards political reconciliation. On Sunday, army officers aligned with Haftar declared that the congress was suspended, further stoking accusations by supporters of the assembly that the retired colonel was attempting a military coup.
Since long-time leader Moamer Gaddafi was toppled and killed in October 2011, Libya’s rulers have struggled to assert their authority and re-establish security in the North African country still awash with weapons and militias.
