In Tripoli, sporadic clashes took place last week between various militias affiliated with the Government of National Accord (GNA), and other hard-line anti-Haftar, Islamist militias nominally loyal to Khalifa al-Ghwell. Ghniwa’s forces attempted to retake control of the Ministry of Labor buildings at Hadba near the Military Academy buildings. The MoL building was taken over by al-Ghwell’s militias last week in an attempted ‘coup’.

On 12 January, militias allied to Khalifa al-Ghwell, leader of a rival government in Tripoli, seized several ministerial buildings in Tripoli, while the whole of western and southern Libya continues to suffer chronic power outages, provoking tensions and anti-GNA sentiment

The Misratan Third Force retook the Gweirat al-Mal checkpoint from the LNA, while LNA fighters conducted airstrikes against Jufra airbase, injuring the head of Misrata Military Council. This lead to calls for all Misratans to mobilize against Haftar in the south, while protests were held in the south calling for Misrata to withdraw.

New hostilities between Misratan forces and the LNA threaten to destabilize southern Libya and weaken the GNA. Deputy PM Musa al-Koni resigned his position on the PC, saying it had failed the Libyan people, while the PC agreed the new 2017 Libyan budget and issued some major security decisions.