Tripoli

For reasons that had to do with the fact that the newly born nation had to primarily fight against naval isolation, the US developed a close connection with the Eastern Mediterranean from the early days of its existence. In fact, the first international conflict that the US Marines got involved in was that on the "shores of Tripoli" during the First Barbary War of 1801-05.

Libya's U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) said ON March 3 that its forces killed 20 militia members loyal to renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar in Sirte.

The militia members were killed in an airstrike, Mustafa al-Mujie, the spokesman for the GNA-led Burkan Al-Ghadab (Volcano of Rage) Operation, told Anadolu Agency.

The French Embassy in Greece has issued a statement reiterating the country's official position that a maritime boundaries accord in the Mediterranean Sea signed between Turkey and Libya's Tripoli-based government last year is "invalid."

The forces of Libya's internationally recognized government will shift from a defensive to an offensive stance against the militia of warlord Khalifa Haftar, said the government's interior minister on March 3.

The U.N. envoy for Libya on Feb. 28 denounced the near breakdown of a fragile truce between the country's warring sides, citing a "serious violation" over the last 24 hours attacks on the capital including an early morning shelling of Tripoli's airport.

The agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea signed between Turkey and Libya's Tripoli-based government is in violation of international law and poses a threat to other states in the region, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said.

The U.N. mission in Libya said on Feb. 24 that the country's warring sides had agreed to turn a shaky cease-fire into a formal deal, stirring modest hopes after weeks of sporadic violence that derailed negotiations.

Following an attack on the Port of Tripoli, Libya's UN-recognized government is withdrawing from the UN-hosted military committee talks in Geneva until a determined stance is taken against the violations by warlord Khalifa Haftar's forces.
The government denied the presence of any Turkish ship at Tripoli's port which was bombed by militias of Haftar on Feb. 18.

The United Nations tried to salvage talks over a ceasefire for Libya on Feb. 19 after the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) said it was pulling out after a single day to protest against the shelling of the capital's port.

Flights to Libya's only civil airport were halted amid attacks by militias loyal to renegade Libyan general Khalifa Haftar on Feb. 17.

In a statement, management of the Mitiga Airport in the Libyan capital Tripoli said the airport was targeted during a Libyan Airlines' plane's take off.