Libya’s UN-backed government has criticised US President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on its nationals and those of six other countries entering the United States, which put in question attendance at a high-profile conference on Libya planned in Washington for mid-February.

The Italian police force has arrested four people on Tuesday under the suspicion of smuggling arms, including helicopters and surface-to-air missiles into Libya and Iran between the years of 2011 and 2015 in violation of the international embargoes set by the United Nations (UN).

The European Union said Monday that the second phase of the training of Libyan coastguards had started as part of Operation Sophia that aims to bring down the human traffickers off Libya’s coasts.

The spokesman of the UN-proposed government’s Defense Ministry, Mohammed Al-Ghasri, has accused Khalifa Haftar, the leader of Dignity Operation, of facilitating the escape of a number of terrorists from Benghazi into the western region.

The media office of Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya has denied that there is any meeting being prepared in Cairo or elsewhere between Haftar and the Head of the Presidential Council, Fayez Al-Serraj.

A Libyan coastguard vessel was reportedly shot at from the shore by people-smugglers as it intercepted 700 migrants off Sabratha.

The Libyan camps where traffickers hold refugees resemble concentration camps, German diplomats have said.

The Head of the Salvation Government, the previous government in Tripoli, Khalifa Al-Ghowel, said, on Sunday, that the awaited meeting between the commander of the House of Representatives (HoR) army, General Khalifa Haftar, and the head of the Presidential Council (PC), Fayez Al-Sarraj, won’t achieve any political outcomes.

All Misrata brigades operating under Misrata Military Council will join the Central Military Zone of the Libyan Army, the council announced on Sunday, a step that aims to unite the most powerful armed brigades in the country under one command.

Libyan Navy patrols, working in Al-Zawiya Oil Refinery, said they had intercepted two boats off Sabratha shores on Sunday and rescued 700 illegal immigrants onboard.