Clashes erupted again this week in Zawiyya between militias linked to militia leader Salem al-Latif and Muhammed Bahroun aka al-Far.
On 18 June, violent clashes erupted in Zawiyya between rival armed factions near the Nawat al-Mustaqbal clinic in the vicinity of the Ben Yusef Road. This was triggered when Malik al-Mahrouq, a close confidant of militia leader Salem al-Latif, was targeted and critically wounded by a group linked to Muhammed Bahroun aka al-Far. The assailants jumped out of a car, shot their victim in the head, returned to their vehicle and escaped. Al-Mahrouq was rushed to the hospital but later succumbed to his injuries.
The initial shooting also resulted in the tragic death of an African migrant worker, who was killed by a stray bullet.
Following al-Mahrouq’s death, fierce clashes erupted along Bin Yusuf Road as Bahroun’s forces engaged a group entrenched inside a farm believed to be associated with Salem al-Latif.
On 20 June in the early hours, armed clashes erupted in several residential and commercial areas in Zawiyya between the Zaitat clan and the Awaisat led by Hassan al-Awais.
The first clashes took place in Qamoudeh in central Zawiyya. Shortly thereafter, fighting started at the eastern entrance to the city in Juda’im and north of the Coastal Road in central Zawiyya in Sakina Dila and al-Ghanoudi as well as on the Coastal Road itself. Both sides employed medium and heavy infantry weapons, causing widespread panic among local citizens as gunfire and armoured vehicles filled the streets.
By noon, the situation calmed down when the Conflict Resolution Force, led by Ahmed al-Murabit aka al-Tarboush, deployed to the contact zone to separate the warring factions. Al-Tarboush’s forces successfully brokered a ceasefire, reopened the Coastal Road, and maintained their positions until troops from the West Coast Military District arrived to secure the buffer zones.
Thereafter, a tense calm returned to the city. The Government of National Unity (GNU) and its security bodies did not comment on the fighting. There is no reliable figure about casualties.