Frigate Salamis (photo) left Greece on Wednesday with the mission to carry out of Libya Greek citizens and diplomatic staff who still remain in the county. Salamis is expected to arrive in Libya on Thursday morning
Men of special forces will be onboard in order to ensure the orderly withdrawal of diplomats and embassy officials from the Libyan capital after escalating clashes broke out between rival militias in the city.
Rival Libyan militias fighting for control of Tripoli's airport agreed to a temporary ceasefire on Wednesday to allow firefighters to try to control a huge blaze at a fuel depot hit by a rocket.
The frigate “Salamis” is calculated to arrive in the area on Thursday afternoon
The past two weeks of fighting have been the worst since the civil war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, prompting Western governments to follow the United States and the United Nations in pulling their diplomats out of the North African country.
China has also evacuated several hundred workers from Libya and is taking them by ship to Malta said Reuters.
About 1,000 Chinese citizens have left since May but another 1,100 or so remain, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing Chinese Embassy official Yan Jianqun.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Philippines said it had chartered a ship to take up to 1,000 Filipinos to Malta. Cutajar said 150 foreign workers, mostly Filipinos, had arrived in Malta on Tuesday on flights from Mitiga airport near Tripoli.
On Monday, the United States said its ambassador to Libya, who was evacuated on Saturday, would be based temporarily in Malta.
Rival Libyan militias fighting for control of Tripoli's airport agreed to a temporary ceasefire on Wednesday
The past two weeks of fighting have been the worst
The island of Malta played a pivotal role in the evacuation of thousands of workers during the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, when countries including China, the Philippines and India chartered ships to transport workers there before they returned to their home countries. A British warship also used Malta as a base for crossings to Libya to evacuate Europeans
A convoy of British diplomats on Sunday made it safely into Tunisia from Libya despite an attack on its vehicles Sunday, British officials said.
Several Western embassies, including those of Britain and the United States, were evacuated over the weekend as heavy militia violence raged in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
The German government renewed its "urgent call for citizens to leave Libya" because of the dangers of kidnappings and fighting.
Britain warned its citizens against all travel to Libya and asked that any of them in the country "leave now" by commercial means, which is made difficult by the limited flights out of the main airport.
Rival Libyan militias fighting for control of Tripoli's airport
Fighting in Tripoli and Benghazi is the worst seen since the revolution that overthrew the regime of Moammar Gadhafi nearly three years ago. The central government has been outgunned by increasingly powerful militias.
Witnesses reported heavy shelling and fighting around the Tripoli international airport Sunday, which has been under attack by an alliance of powerful militias from the city of Misrata and Islamist militias. The fighters are trying to take it from militias from the city of Zintan, which have controlled it since the 2011 revolution.
Dozens of people, including some women and children, died in fighting in Benghazi in recent days, according to the Libyan state news agency. Intense shelling continued Sunday, the reports said. Violence erupted in Benghazi last Monday when Islamist militias attacked military bases in the city.
Source: Reuters
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