Violent Clashes in Libya Reignite Fears of Civil War

The clashes, which abated by Sunday morning, were between armed groups loyal to Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in the western capital of Tripoli and militias backing a rival administration in the east trying to take the capital.

Libya has been racked with violence since a 2011 uprising ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Armed groups and foreign powers vied for power since, with a civil war breaking out in 2019. The country remains split between factions in the east and west.

The nation enjoyed a period of calm in 2021 when a United Nations-led peace process installed Mr. Dbeibah in Tripoli. Tensions between rival factions began picking up last year, however, over how to select Libya’s next leader. A national election that was supposed to be held in December, according to the U.N. dialogue, was indefinitely postponed.

Fears of a renewed conflict came to the fore in February when some members of the country’s Parliament in the east named former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha as their prime minister to replace Mr. Dbeibah.

Mr. Bashagha was a key official in a previous U.N.-backed government who organized the defense of Tripoli against Khalifa Haftar, a military chief who attempted to seize the capital in 2019. In a shift of alliances this year, however, Mr. Bashagha has had the political backing of Mr. Haftar.

Amid this weekend’s clashes, Mr. Bashagha’s camp made a second, unsuccessful attempt to take over Tripoli. He had entered the capital for a few hours in May, before being forced out.

On Saturday, however, military convoys from Mr. Bashagha’s allies in Misrata, his hometown, headed northwest toward the capital were seen turning back. Some armed groups that were previously on the sidelines also moved to back Mr. Dbeibah, allowing him to gain an upper hand in Tripoli.

Mr. Dbeibah has been vague about whether he will step down as prime minister. He submitted himself as a candidate for elections that were scheduled last year, then said this year his replacement should be determined by elections.

Overnight, Mr. Dbeibah spoke to his armed supporters on the streets of Tripoli, calling the attacks against him a coup d’état, according to a video circulated by local media. He called for national elections, but didn’t say what steps he would take to make that happen. “We’re not turning this country over to villains,” said Mr. Dbeibah. “We will defend it with our dignity and honor.”

Analysts said that with the immediate threat of his rival gone, Mr. Dbeibah will likely try to consolidate his power although he faces formidable challenges, including rival militias stationed beyond western Libya and on Tripoli’s outskirts.

“Even if Dbeibah wanted to organize elections, which presumably he doesn’t, he wouldn’t have the means to get together a necessary legislative framework,” said Wolfram Lacher, a Libya analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

Mr. Lacher added the reluctance of Western governments to reject both Mr. Dbeibah and Mr. Bashagha shows an ambivalence to the country’s political future.

“It essentially means whoever seizes power in Tripoli will be accepted internationally,” he said.

The U.N. mission in Libya has been unsuccessful in the past two years at getting the eastern-based parliament and the High Council of State in Tripoli to agree on a legal framework for elections.

In a statement Saturday, the U.N. said that Libya’s political deadlock was increasingly threatening its hard-won stability and called for a cease-fire.

Meanwhile, Libya has returned to pumping near maximum levels of oil after Mr. Dbeibah’s government in July replaced the chairman of National Oil Corp. The state producer has been the target of past power struggles as the state relies almost solely on its revenues for funding, but production doesn’t appear to have been affected by the latest round of clashes.

—Husen Gdora contributed to this article.

Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com