Libya fighting intensifies as rival forces defy UN call for global ceasefire

Factions step up offensives while international actors distracted by coronavirus pandemic

Libyan armed factions have defied a UN call for a "global ceasefire" by escalating fighting across the country, with forces loyal to eastern warlord Gen Khalifa Haftar claiming to have gained control of a string of towns in the north-west.

A spokesman for Haftar said his forces, the Libyan National Army (LNA), had also repulsed an offensive by the UN-backed government of national accord designed to capture its key airbase - the failure of which will increase the fragility of the Tripoli government and its dependence on its Turkish backers.