over the past weekend intense fighting in the libyan capital of tripoli saw 32 people killed in the worst bout of violence experienced in the nation's last two years libya has been in a state of conflict ever since the 2011 nato-backed ousting of muammar gaddafi following his death the country split into east and west factions creating two parallel governments in libya this past week the eastern faction led by fathi bashaga and backed by the national parliament attempted to install a new governm
ent in the west which is headed by a un-recognized prime minister abdulhamid daba in the conflict that ensued daba aligned forces seized bases aligned with kashaga's administration leaving daba's government in an even stronger position than before what's the story behind the violent power struggle and is there any path for recourse while the recent violence was short-lived many fear that it's an indication of a resumption of the larger conflict that's plagued libya since the beginning of the 201
1 uprising thereafter the warring eastern and western factions struggled for control over libya specifically over the lucrative petroleum fields which output over 1.3 million barrels of oil per day losses suffered by bashaga aligned forces signaled that the eastern faction likely would not gain any further control in western libya crucially deba's administration only meant to serve as an interim government elections were scheduled for december 2021 but were abandoned due to disputes over rules i
n the voting process all without plans to return to regular elections as a result speaker of the parliament aguila saleh claimed that the daba government exceeded its term limits and chose bashaga to replace deba in the wake of the election's collapse however bashaga has since been unable to court western allies and must rely on locally armed militias to overwhelm deba these politics are made even more difficult as turkey and other western countries control air bases and ports in and around trip
oli and the mediterranean and have used them to support deba's government while another attack on tripoli is unlikely eastern forces will likely limit the lucrative oil flow to the west cutting off this resource which serves as the government's biggest source of revenue could force deba to the bargaining table blocking the flow of oil has been effective in the past as the last shutdown reduced exports by half forcing deba to appoint a haftar ally as head of the national oil corporation while sec
urity has returned to tripoli and the city has resumed functioning as normal no signs point to a diplomatic compromise or a long-term end to the fighting leading citizens to anguish over the possibility of another violent episode in their nation's history
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