UNSMIL has confirmed that the delayed 5+5 Libyan Joint Military Commission is starting its meetings under the auspices of the United Nations in Geneva today.

The Berlin conference that convened last month to salvage the feeble Libyan political process was generally regarded by participants as a step in the right direction. German Chancellor Angela Merkel successfully kept the motion afloat as catastrophe loomed.

While that enthusiasm has somewhat cooled because of Haftar’s alliance with the Russians, there’s still more that the US can do, especially in areas where Washington has unique leverage.

Ghassan Salame, the special representative of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), expressed his regret on 12 January that the announced truce between the two sides of the conflict is not being implemented on the ground, and is now only “a dead letter”.

The UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame accused foreign actors Thursday of continuing to meddle in Libya’s conflict, in violation of commitments made at an international summit in Berlin this month.

A leader in the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) said the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces led by renegade General Khalifa Haftar have recruited mercenaries from Syria to fight in Libya.

Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) said Thursday it downed a drone in Tripoli.

Tripoli Security Directorate has developed a security force called “The Storm of the Capital”, with the mission to support the security services in the western areas of Tripoli.

Government troops are making further advances into the territory controlled by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar and have halted an operation by his forces to take the northwestern city of Misrata.

Forces loyal to the internationally recognized Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) yesterday seized the town of Abugrein, south-east of Misrata, from the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by renegade retired General Khalifa Haftar which had captured the town a day earlier.