SHORTAGES OF AMMUNITION STALL THE ADVANCE OF FORCES LOYAL TO THE TOBRUK GOVERNMENT

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Armed forces loyal to the only officially and internationally recognized government of Libya based in Tobruk are facing serious ammunition shortages in their battle against Islamists in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Although forces loyal to the government in Tobruk have regained some territory that was lost last year, there has been a pause in their advance. This is because fighters from the Islamist Majlis al-Shura group still have several districts of Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, under their control, as well as the port of the city.

According to the spokesman of the military forces loyal to the Tobruk government, the shortages of ammunition affect how battles in the city of Benghazi develop.

At the moment Libya has two governments: the internationally recognized one is based in Tobruk, while the second, supported by Turkey, Qatar and Sudan, is based in Tripoli.

Since 2011, when Gaddafi lost power after a popular uprising backed by NATO, an arms embargo has been enforced in Libya in order to avoid further deterioration of the situation on the ground.

The Prime Minister of the Tobruk government, Abdullah al-Thinni, said on Sunday that the U.N. should lift the arms embargo so his forces could buy weapons and fight the Islamists. His appeal came after fighters of the Islamist Majlis al-Shura group posted pictures on social media of what they said were locally produced mortars and rockets.

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