Libyan Foreign Ministry’s consulates affairs department denied social media news that foreign embassies shut down and evicted staffers due to the clashes in Tripoli.
The ministry also said that a statement urging Libyan embassies to ban protests against the Presidential Council (PC) was fake, saying it aimed at staining the reputation of the PC, asking all Libyans not to be taken by fake news.
Meanwhile, Maltese nationals in Libya demanded to be evacuated by their country’s authorities amid intensified clashes.
Sources in the Maltese government told Times of Malta Tuesday that efforts are underway to sort out logistics for a possible evacuation of about 25 Maltese nationals based in Tripoli and western Libya.
“As you can appreciate, this is a delicate matter and the situation is quite complex at the moment. What we can say is that efforts are being made to see what can be done,” a senior government source told the Times of Malta.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday morning said all Maltese in Tripoli are safe and it is monitoring the situation.
Likewise on Tuesday, fumes were seen coming out of former compound of the US embassy on Tripoli’s Airport Road, with eyewitnesses saying they spotted the fire coming out of the compound itself.
Spokesman for the Ambulance and Emergency Department Osama Ali said firefighters units were directed to the fire location but couldn’t reach it due to heavy fighting.
The US embassy denied on Twitter that the compound caught fire, saying a fuel tank fire was blazing in the vicinity.
In 2014, the US embassy was evacuated during fighting of Libya Dawn operation and has been empty since.
