Libya: Tripoli fighting

A lot of my blog posts on Libya has focused on eastern Libya and the Libyan National Army (LNA). That's mainly because most of the fighting appeared to be on the eastern side of Libya. Fighting has now broken out in Tripoli. From what has been written, it was caused by jealousy of those living outside of Tripoli who saw how those in Tripoli were living. Yes, I'm thinking it has to do with how oil money is being divided up.

Reuters (Aug 29th) reported:

Fighting on Monday and Tuesday pitted the Seventh Brigade, or Kaniyat, from Tarhouna, a town 65 km (45 miles) southeast of Tripoli, against the Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigades (TRB) and the Nawasi, two of the capital’s largest armed groups. The Kaniyat and other groups from outside Tripoli have noticed the success of rivals inside the city with growing unease. Reports about the wealth, power and extravagant lifestyles of some Tripoli militia commanders have fueled resentment.



Interestingly, Al Jazeera has this quote:

The Kaniyat and other groups from outside Tripoli have noticed the success of rivals inside the city with growing unease. Reports about the wealth, power and extravagant lifestyles of some Tripoli rebel commanders have fuelled resentment. A fragile truce took effect on Thursday, but by late afternoon the hostilities had resumed. Libyan officials say the fighting has so far killed nearly 40 people, including 18 civilians. According to Human Rights Watch, the death toll includes at least four children.

So yeah, I took a couple sentences from Reuters and Al Jazeera and it looks like Al Jazeera took a few sentences from Reuters. There is reference that the article was written with assistance from news agencies, but nothing specific about Reuters.

Anyways, fighting started up on Monday and then eased on Thursday before starting back up.

Via the BBC (Sept 2nd) we learn that on Sunday:

Some 400 prisoners have escaped from a facility near the Libyan capital Tripoli amid deadly violence between militia groups in the city, police say . . . Many of the prisoners held at the Ain Zara prison in south-east Tripoli were reportedly supporters of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and had been found guilty of killings during the uprising against his government in 2011.

This brought up some interesting thoughts? Was the Seventh Brigade, Kaniyat, associated with Gaddafi in any way? Were they looking to free prisoners associated with Gaddafi?

According to the Libyan Observer (Oct 2017), the answer is no:

Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade, backed by Brigade 301 and Kani Brigade of Tarhuna, launched Wednesday a military operation in southern Tripoli to eliminate an armed group loyal to former dictator Gaddafi.

So at one point, the Kani Brigade (which I'll assume is the same as the Kaniyat) were aligned with the Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade to bring down Gaddafi militants. The Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade obviously didn't properly treat the Kani Brigade after that alliance, because the two sides are now fighting it out.

It'll be interesting to read in the future where those prisoners end up. Are they recaptured? Or do they start another Libyan militia or join other militias that might still be loyal to the Gaddafi family?