Benghazi residents on army withdrawal from Tripoli

Opinions varied in the streets of the Libyan city of Benghazi on Friday regarding the withdrawal of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) from the capital, Tripoli.

But most affirmed their continued support for the LAAF, also known as Libyan National Army, despite the withdrawal.Forces allied with the UN-supported government in Libya’s capital said Friday they had retaken another key western town from rivals behind a year-long offensive on Tripoli.

According to Mohamed Gnono, the spokesman for the Tripoli-allied forces, the Turkey-backed units had entered the town of Tarhouna, 72 kilometres (45 miles) southeast of Tripoli. Hundreds of citizens took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the Turkish military intervention, carrying slogans in support of the LAAF, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, and chanting slogans against "the Turkish invasion."

A spokesman for Hifter’s forces, Ahmed al-Mosmari, said at a press conference late on Friday that their fighters withdrew from Tarhouna after facing intense Turkish bombardment.

He framed the retreat as a strategic decision to keep heavy fighting outside the city’s populated civilian districts.He explained that the LAAF withdrew from the city of Tarhouna to spare the city the destruction, adding that the forces arrived in a safe area after their withdrawal from the city.

The retaking of Tarhouna followed other front-line successes of the militias allied with the UN-supported, but weak, Tripoli government. On Thursday, they said they regained control of all of Tripoli's entrance and exit points, and the day before, they said they took back the Tripoli airport.

(Image Credit: AP)