like colonel gadhafi. that despite reports that russia has sent troops to libya moscow has so far denied supporting have gotten its forces in the offensive on the capital tripoli from long this i m joined by dr leon is i have he s an expert on international relations at the higher school of economics in a moscow welcome to you know how credible are reports of russia has troops in libya and what are they playing in this little latest battle for the control of tripoli. well good afternoon and. you know until now i didn t see any evidence. regarding the russian troops in libya but i guess we can say about pressure and the first of all about russian structures in egypt and and abia we can talk about the strong cookery shows only be and you should be assistant.
out an air strike on tripoli s only functioning airport on monday reports say the strike hit a run by causing casualties puffed out is trying to seize tripoli from the un backed government there thousands have fled the fighting. so who is general have and why has he started this offensive we have this report. the overthrow of colonel gadhafi and twenty eleven plunged libya into chaos for four decades he had ruled the country with an iron hand holding together libya s disparate groups including some one hundred forty tripes and clans his death left a power vacuum the government in the capital has limited power even though it s recognized by much of the international community its rival by a parallel government in the eastern city of tobruk both of ministrations have parliaments and armed forces adding to the chaos various militias are also fighting
policy chief is appealing for a truce. a full implementation of the my italian troops to allow the civilian center wounded to be about needed from. the city and to avoid any further military action and the end for their military escalation according to the u.n. more than two thousand people have fled the fighting south of tripoli many others are still trapped but there are still ities and cannot escape. while libya s long simmering and fighting has now come to a head the country has been mired in problems for nearly eight years now ever since longtime dictator moammar gadhafi was toppled from power where libya s gas and oil up for grabs rival militias have struggled to gain control of the country. the overthrow of colonel gadhafi and twenty eleven plunged libya into chaos for four decades he had ruled the country with an iron hand holding together libya s
two years to get one have to widespread credit in eastern libya and some recognition abroad too. but he didn t stop there after consolidating his hold on the east he swept through the oil rich south of the country earlier this year and now he s turned his focus on the capital after supporters see him as the best hope of unifying libya under one government while his opponents fear he d be another dictator like colonel gadhafi. all right want to bring up to speed now with some of the other stories making news around the world. u.s. president donald trump has announced that washington will officially designated iran s revolutionary guard as a terrorist organization is the first time the u.s. has labeled a foreign government entity in those terms iran s foreign minister has urged tehran to respond in kind by adding u.s. forces in the middle east to its list of terrorist groups. the turkish capital ankara has sworn in its new mayor opposition candidate with
money, billions of dollars. and he comes to the u.s., as you say. and you have jeff bees soesos, laughing around and taking pictures with him. the silicon valley chiefs and dwayne the rock johnson and michael bloomberg all suck up to him. and i ve not heard a word from any of the liberals, forget the conservatives, the liberal american media, where is the outcry from them? i m still waiting to hear any outcry about the crackdown or this alleged murder. he came to the united states and was treated as if he was the jfk of the middle east when it turns out he is really the new colonel gadhafi of the middle east. here is what strikes me about this. this is a very brazen thing to do. they know that they re not going to they know that the people will notice, this right? there is cctv. the turks are furious about this for obvious reasons. this was done on turkish soil, even though it was done in a consulate. you don t do this unless you think you have the running room to do this kind of