go he calls himself a special forces
commander in reality Mohammed direct is
a volunteer guiding us along the
frontline of Libya's Civil a ghost town
on the outskirts of Tripoli under siege
from renegade general I've done can any
other country
stop this can the UN stop this war the
UN resolution last week demanded a
ceasefire but every few minutes we can
hear incoming artillery or sniper fire
forcing over a hundred and seventy
thousand people from their homes so far
this suburb of Tripoli has been turned
into a no-man's land the incoming
mortars and artillery appear to be
indiscriminate and general hafta seems
hell-bent on securing a military victory
on taking Tripoli itself rather than
suing for peace in waiting his backers
include Russia
Egypt and Gulf states opposed to another
Arab Spring though he claims he sent
these fighters to liberate Tripoli from
Islamist militias and to create a
secular democracy nonsence says this
mild-mannered former architect who's now
prime minister of Libya is besieged but
internationally recognized government
namaskara here we are the legitimate
government we are the ones who have
fought extremism this is all part of
their marketing propaganda we're
surprised anyone supports what is
essentially a last month a peace
conference attended by Boris Johnson and
other world leaders agreed in principle
that a UN arms embargo of the
should be enforced proxy conflicts only
come to an end when the external proxies
decided they were really clear but no
sooner was the ink dry than dozens of
cargo flights began ferrying supplies
believed to be from the United Arab
Emirates to territory controlled by
general hafta the commander shows me the
wing of a drone his men have shot down
he says that it too came from the UAE in
an apparent violation of the UN's
embargo though the Emiratis deny any
involvement in Libya's war on that you
looked it up on the internet yeah from
China so you think it's an Emirati drone
yes international he says and Europe
should apply pressure to stop it in an
underground control center the fighters
defending Tripoli have their own cameras
trained on the suspected positions of
half-dollars snipers so there's no but
air strikes have proved harder to
prevent including this horrific attack
on a military parade ground last month
26 new recruits were killed and dozens
injured although the facts are unknown
Roger utter wash is in no doubt it took
two days before they can identify the
body of Muta field a 20 year old son it
was an Emirati draw how can they say
they don't have anything to do with this
war the world needs to look at Libya to
stop the bloodshed it's being destroyed
this apocalyptic landscape is the legacy
of two previous Wars first the
Revolution
against Colonel Gaddafi then the battle
to expel Isis and now this road leads to
the desert front where general after
several grounded air assaults the men
tasked with fighting him look ragged and
ill-equipped and they claim they came
under fire this morning their arsenal
includes this lorry load of ageing
Soviet commander coughs artillery shells
and rocket-propelled grenades insects
Gaddafi stock and is bought on the black
market
one of the biggest arms markets in the
world
half that is coming with the balance of
power is shifting these pictures which
we can't verify appear to show a cargo
ship delivering Turkish armored vehicles
to Tripoli last month the Internet is
awash with propaganda from both sides
but these are allegedly Syrian
mercenaries sent by Turkey though the
airline denies it
his Tripoli's worst kept secret the
President Erdogan has sent some 2,000
Syrians Libyans prime minister never
denies it here the general half doll
might say to you that you have Syrian
fighters sent by Turkey and so you're
violating the UN arms embargo a condom
would have cut at the farm that the how
in her new we signed an agreement with
the Turkish government after months of
attacks on our city I find this talk
about Syrians curiously there are lots
of mercenaries on the other side
including Syrians we have a complete
list of all the planes going there but
the focus is always on our side the
beers popular revolution of nine years
ago has been betrayed with two or
inside's battling for one flag it's also
a proxy war for strategic advantage for
gas and for oil with
merica largely absent the question is
just how far Europe is prepared to get
involved Jonathan Rugman Channel 4 News
Libya well I'm now in martyrs square in
the heart of downtown Tripoli I was here
when the revolution against Colonel
Gaddafi first started nine years ago it
was a hopeful time an optimistic time
and the celebrations on this ninth
anniversary although there are thousands
of people here and fireworks are being
let off and gunfire as well the
celebrations are bittersweet because
Libya has been plunged into civil war
pretty much ever since now the European
Union is getting involved in a practical
way for the first time it is sending an
EU naval mission to monitor a UN arms
embargo backed up by aerial
reconnaissance but there is a catch
because the Austrians are insisting that
this naval mission does not go near the
routes used by African migrants because
it is worried that the ships will be
forced under international law to pick
those migrants up so this is very
clearly not a humanitarian mission it is
a military mission and any talk about
the deploying troops on the ground is
woefully premature partly because nobody
wants to do it and partly because there
is no ceasefire to enforce as you saw
from my report which has just been
broadcast