|
 Lawmakers gathered in a heavily guarded hotel in the eastern city
of Tobruk after three weeks of fighting in Tripoli and in Benghazi
had made the capital and the country's second city unsafe for the
parliament session.
Western nations that have pulled out of the country since the
fighting began hope the new assembly might help nudge the warring
factions towards a ceasefire and negotiations to end their political
standoff.
Elected in June, the House of Representatives replaces the General
National Congress (GNC) where, some analysts say, Islamist factions
had more influence than in the new one.
"A swift transition from the GNC to the new parliament is vital
because the country is in turmoil," Azzedine al-Awami, the former
deputy GNC chief, said at start of the first session.
"We hope all Libyans stand together to put our country's best
interests first."
 But in a sign of division over the legitimacy of the new assembly,
in Tripoli, Nouri Abusahmain, an Islamist who was president of the
GNC, called for a rival parliamentary session in the capital to make
an official handover of power.
It was not immediately clear how much support his call would
receive.
Heavy artillery and rocket fire restarted on Monday across southern
Tripoli, where Islamist-leaning Misrata brigades are fighting to
oust rival Zintani militias from the international airport they have
controlled since 2011.
More than 200 people have been killed in the recent fighting in
Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi.
The Tripoli airport battle is part of a wider political struggle
between two loose factions of ex-rebels and their political allies
who once fought together against Gaddafi, but whose rivalries
exploded over the spoils of post-war Libya.
On one side of Libya's battle are Zintan brigades - based in the
city some 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Tripoli - with their
anti-Islamist Qaaqaa and Al-Sawaiq fighters, including some
ex-Gaddafi forces, and political allies who say they are a bulwark
against Islamist extremists taking over Libya.
Against them are fighters loyal to the western port of Misrata who
are allied with the Islamist Justice and Construction party, an arm
of the Muslim Brotherhood, who say they are fighting to purge
ex-Gaddafi elements.
WESTERN PULLOUT
Britain was closing its embassy operations on Monday, one of the
last foreign governments to pull its diplomatic staff, following the
evacuation of the United States and the United Nations after the
fighting erupted in Tripoli.
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A Royal Navy ship on Sunday evacuated more than 100 British
citizens, Libyan families and some foreign nationals. Other
diplomats crossed by road into neighboring Tunisia.
With its new national army still in formation, Libya's fragile
government has long struggled against the power of the militia
brigades, who have skirmished over parts of the capital since
Tripoli fell in 2011.
Many of the militia brigades are on the government payroll, approved
by competing factions in ministries and the parliament, but are
often more loyal to commanders, political allies or regions than to
the Libyan state.
The General National Congress was stormed numerous times by
different militia brigades trying to pressure lawmakers on political
decisions or to demand it dissolve.
But the fighting over the airport three weeks ago has been the worst
since the 2011 war.
Most of Tripoli has been calm, with fighting mainly restricted to
the de facto frontlines in the south and parts of the west of the
city. Fuel prices have soared on the black market as fighting has
caused shortages.
Complicating Libya's security, in Benghazi an alliance of Islamist
fighters and ex-rebels have joined together to battle Libyan armed
forces, seizing a special forces military base last week and pushing
the army outside of the city.
Those Islamists, from the Ansar al-Sharia group, are branded a
terrorist organization by Washington and blamed for the attack on
the U.S. mission in Benghazi in 2012, in which the U.S. ambassador
and three other Americans died.
(Additional reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli in Tobruk, Ahmed Elumami
in Benghazi and Heba al-Shibani in Tripoli; Writing by Patrick
Markey; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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