Arab League Chief Fears Conflict Escalation In Syria May Further Destabilize Libya

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2019) The League of Arab States' (LAS) secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, told Sputnik on Tuesday that the bloc did not want the Libyan crisis to worsen as a result of the recent escalation of military operations in Syria.

Despite the recent advances in the settlement of the Syrian conflict, there has been an intensification of military activities between the Syrian government forces fighting rebels in the demilitarized zone in Idlib in northern Syria.

"LAS does not want an escalation, does not want new conflict to lead to the further destabilization of the political situation and does not want more civilian deaths ... The situation in Libya is very fragile ... The utmost caution must be exercised," Gheit said.

The political situation in Libya has been in a critical state since April 4, when Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), backed by the parliament ruling the Libya's eastern part, announced an offensive against the capital of Tripoli in a bid to drive what he called terrorist forces out of the city.

In response, armed forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) started a military operation against the LNA.

Libya has been suffering from unrest since 2011, when its long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed. Since then the country has been divided between two rival governments, with an elected parliament governing the country's east and the UN- and EU-backed GNA ruling the west from Tripoli.