The year-long battle for Tripoli has been heating up in recent weeks despite widespread calls for a ceasefire during Ramadan and the coronavirus pandemic. As the violence escalates and the number of foreigners involved in the fighting multipies, the United Nations Security Council has proven largely inconsequential. The reasons for this are as complex as the politics of Libya's six-year civil war.
Just in recent weeks, fighters allied to Libya's internationally recognised Government of National Accord have made significant gains against their rivals in the Libyan National Army, led by self-proclaimed Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. Both sides are largely loose coalitions of militias whose internal politics are even more complex than the divide driving the war.
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