Aljazeera TV Channel has reported a high ranking government official at the Presidential Council as saying that a French military unit has set up a control room for drones at Sidra oil terminal in northern Libya amid France’s rejection that it has provided military support for Khalifa Haftar’s forces.

Militias loyal to Libya’s Tripoli-based unity government said they repelled an attack Monday by forces of eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar on a strategic town southeast of the capital.

Heavy airstrikes have been rocking the suburbs of Gharyan city since the dawn of Monday, reportedly by UAE drones backing up Khalifa Haftar’s forces, paving the way for ground forces of Khalifa Haftar to advance on Gharyan city.

The forces under the command of Khalifa Haftar have started this morning a large-scale attack on Gharyan in an attempt to retake the city that they have lost to the forces under the command of the Government of National Accord’s Burkan Al-Ghadab Operation (Volcano of Rage).

The internationally-backed Libyan government yesterday announced that 17 fighters affiliated with General Khalifa Haftar handed themselves over in the south of the capital Tripoli, Anadolu Agency reported.

Three civilians were killed on Saturday in an air raid south of the Libyan capital, a source in the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) said.

Forces loyal to Libya’s unity government said Wednesday they had made territorial gains south of Tripoli against commander Khalifa Haftar, whose fighters are trying to take the capital.

Since the current conflict in Libya between the Libyan National Army (LNA) and the Government of National Accord (GNA) began with the former’s siege on Tripoli in April airpower has played a very significant role in the war efforts of both sides.

As southern Tripoli frontlines have been seeing an uneasy calm with some intermittent clashes between the Libyan Army forces and Khalifa Haftar’s forces, the latter, positioned in Urban town between Gharyan and Tarhouna, have attempted to advance on Gharyan but failed.

The Tripoli Ministry of Health aligned to the Faiez Serraj-led Presidency Council and Government of National Accord condemned what it called the “heinous practices of killing prisoners after torturing them and abusing their bodies in ways that violate all local and international laws and customs”.