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UN-backed Libyan forces oust renegade general from Tripoli

A 14 month-siege of Libya’s capital Tripoli by the renegade general Khalifa Haftar ended in failure on Thursday when his forces retreated from the south of the city toward his heartlands in the south and the east of the country.

The interior minister of the UN-recognised government of national accord (GNA), Fathi Bashagha, hailed “the beginning of the end of the entire dictatorship project”, and urged cities under Haftar’s control to rise up against him and spare themselves further conflict.

The extent of Haftar’s retreat may depend on the point at which newly arrived Russian fighter jets intervene to shore up his lines of defence.

Western powers are urging forces loyal to the GNA not to exploit their new military advantage by pushing deep into the east, but instead to allow peace talks to resume to form a new government of national unity.