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By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 7 July 2014:
Tensions in west Tripoli following two nights of erratic clashes between a local Janzour brigade and a . . .[restrict]security unit manned by members of Zintan’s Sawaq Brigade, but under the command of the Interior Ministry, threatened to escalate yesterday evening into a major standoff involving a number of revolutionary brigades on one side and Zintani units on the other.
In the event, however, the spirit of Ramadan and the capital’s ability to avoid trouble at the last minute appears to have prevented any serious outbreak of violence.
During the day, the Zintanis evacuated the beachside Regatta Club in Siyahiya which they have held ever since the liberation of Tripoli almost three years ago. By the late afternoon, it had been taken over by the Fursan Janzour (Knights of Janzour) Brigade who were involved in Friday and Saturday nights’ clashes. According to a Fursan commander, his forces went through the extensive club grounds – “villa by villa” – to ensure there were no remaining Zintanis there.
In the evening however, he claimed that the Zintani Qaaqaa and Sawaq brigades had returned to Siyahiya with heavy weapons and were intent on attacking his unit. As a result, forces from the Libyan Revolutionaries Operations Room and other units had arrived with equally heavy weaponry to support Fursan.
“We’re expecting a hard night”, he told the Libya Herald. “Please tell people to stay away from windows and doors,” he asked. There was a risk of innocent people being injured and or even killed, he said.
There have been reports that a female doctor was killed during the day in her home by a stray bullet during clashes in the area but these have not been confirmed. Nor have other rumours of random injuries sustained by other civilians, although during last night and early this morning there was damage to buildings as a result of rocket fire.
Indeed, Siyahiya appeared distinctly calm in the early hours of Monday morning when a Libya Herald reporter drove though. There was no sign of any clashes around the Regatta club, nor of the presence of heavy arms or militiamen.
On the contrary, ignoring any concerns about possible fighting, residents were doing what they always do at night during Ramadan: the shops were open, the roads were full of traffic and the streets crowded. It was the same across much of Tripoli.
If there were fighters intent on doing damage to each other, they were keeping a low profile while residents were out and about. [/restrict]
