2 – 8 October: UNSMIL condemns airstrikes on Equestrian Club

Oct 10, 2019 | International actors

On 6 October, UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) published a statement condemning airstrikes on the Equestrian Club in Tripoli’s Janzour neighbourhood that day and held “General Haftar’s forces” responsible. The incident is reported to have caused injuries to several children and damaged the civilian facility – UNSMIL even dispatched an assessment mission which concluded “neither military assets nor military infrastructure were observed at the targeted site.” The Government of National Accord (GNA), Italy, the US, and the UK each issued condemnations of the airstrike following UNSMIL’s statement. In response, the Libyan National Army (LNA) published a statement denying they had targeted the Equestrian Club or its surrounding area, going so far as to suggest that it was an inside job by “terrorist militias.”

On 4 October, UNSMIL issued a statement expressing alarm at “indications that parallel, unrecognized authorities in Libya are threatening the operation and management of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) and its subsidiary Brega’’. It warned that continued efforts to divide the NOC’s functions threaten the country’s oil revenue and could constitute violations of UN Security Council Resolutions and that it would ‘report suspected violations to the UN Panel of Experts, the UN Sanctions Committee and the UN Security Council. It concluded by stressing that Libya’s oil and natural resources should not be weaponized.