EU foreign ministers said on Monday that they have agreed to launch a new mission in the Mediterranean Sea to enforce a United Nations arms embargo on Libya that is currently routinely flouted.

The threat posed by unexploded bombs is rising exponentially in wartorn Libya, experts have warned, with the use of banned cluster weapons a source of particular concern.

The Libyan Army forces opened up heavy artillery yesterday on a gathering of Haftar’s militias south of Tripoli after they repeatedly opened fire in violation of the ceasefire, Libyan Army Spokesman, Colonel Mohamed Gununu has confirmed.

Tripoli’s Mitiga International Airport on Monday announced it had to suspend its activities after being attacked.

Libyan Crimes Watch (LCW) has accused pro-Khalifa-Haftar militias of Al-Kanyat (9th Brigade) of kidnapping and killing three civilians then tossing their bodies on the road in Garabulli.

Violations of an arms embargo in Libya have become a joke and those who breach it must be held to account, a senior UN official has said.

Libya will face a financial crisis and a budget deficit in 2020 because of a blockade of oil shipping terminals and oil fields by groups loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar, the head of Libya’s internationally recognised government said on Saturday.

European Union officials are seeking support from member states to have naval ships enforce the UN arms embargo against Libya, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

Eastern Libyan forces have said they would not allow the United Nations to use the only functioning airport in the capital Tripoli, hours after the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding the warring parties commit to a “lasting ceasefire”.

Forces affiliated with Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) used cluster munitions in a residential area in Tripoli last December, according to a Thursday report by Human Rights Watch, which called on the United Nations to “help bring an end to the cycle of impunity to Libya”.