MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th December, 2019) The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) aid group stands ready to provide additional assistance to Libyan civilians after Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar announced the final offensive to Tripoli, Michael Fark, the MSF head of mission for Libya and the Mediterranean, told Sputnik.
Late on Thursday, Haftar announced the beginning of the final offensive to take Tripoli. Libyan media reported that clashes between the Government of National Accord (GNA) and Haftar's forces were taking place in several areas around the capital.
"MSF teams are monitoring the larger context and humanitarian needs and are standing by to provide additional support to the conflict affected population if and when needed," Fark said.
The MSF official stressed that although the frontlines and areas of control around Tripoli remained largely unchanged in the eight months of the resurgence of violence in the country, the situation was still extremely alarming for civilians due to indiscriminate shelling, gunfire and airstrikes that hit densely populated areas.
"The ongoing fighting in Libya is taking a heavy toll on civilians, including migrants and refugees caught in the crossfire of the conflict between militias," he stressed.
Fark added that MSF medics had distributed essential medication, and hygiene and wound treatment kits in shelters and hospitals in and around Tripoli over the past several months.
After the ouster and assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the country was plunged into a brutal civil war. Today, Libya is divided between two centers of power � an elected parliament in the country's east, supported by the LNA and led by Haftar, and the UN-backed GNA in the west.
