On 18 March, a large number of heavily-armed Force 444 troops from Tripoli arrived in the al-Qadamah area in central Gharyan. This prompted a state of alert by the Gharyan Branch of the Stability Support Agency (SSA) of the MoI and of the 555th Infantry Brigade, which formally belongs to the Libyan Army, but is functionally affiliated with the SSA. Both SSA and 555 mobilized their troops and increased their presence on the streets of Gharyan. Allegedly the deployment of Force 444 was triggered by the recent arrest of eight to ten young recruits to the unit from Gharyan by the 555th Infantry Brigade (555) and the seizure of three to five of their vehicles at a checkpoint. Subsequently, Force 444 threatened to storm Gharyan and attack the 555 unless their detained recruits were released immediately.
The following morning, fighting broke out with heavy artillery launched at several locations throughout Gharyan. After two days of sporadic clashes with no one killed merely with some cars stolen, by the fasting hours of 21 March, the fighting had calmed down.