CAIRO, May 17. /TASS/. Armed clashes erupted in Libyan capital on Tuesday morning after the arrival of Fathi Bashagha designated by the Libyan House of Representatives as the interim prime minister, Al-Hadath TV channel reported.

The clashes with the use of various weapons, including large-caliber machine guns, are underway between the formations loyal to Bashagha and the groups supporting Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh’s Government of National Unity. The latter refuses to step down, insisting that he will turn the government over only to elected authorities. According to recent information, intensive fighting has already spread to the central part of the capital. There are no reports of casualties yet.

Earlier on Tuesday, the interior minister of Bashagha’s government said that the designated Libyan government would function from Tripoli. That said, he added that the Ministry of the Interior won’t persecute members of Dbeibeh’s government for political motives.

On April 21, the official spokesman for the new prime minister said that the government was not in any rush to move to the capital and intended to relocate there only peacefully.

Parliamentary and presidential elections in Libya were supposed to be held on December 24, 2021, yet were postponed indefinitely at the last moment due to the impossibility to organize them, including due to imperfect legislation. On March 3 in Tobruk, Libya’s parliament sworn in the new interim government led by Bashagha who was elected as the new prime minister by the lawmakers who decided that the mandate of the Government of National Unity expired back in December. Meanwhile, Dbeibeh repeatedly stated that he would step down only following a general election that his government was supposed to conduct.