BEIRUT — Libya’s National Accord Government headed by Prime Minister Fayez Al-Serraj said its forces shot down a fighter jet belonging to forces of commander Khalifa Haftar south of the capital Tripoli on Sunday.

“The forces of the Libyan army shot down an enemy plane that was preparing to conduct air raids in the Wadi Al-Rabie area,” Government of National Accord spokesman Mohamed Gnounou told AFP.

Haftar’s forces, which control swathes of the country’s east, launched an offensive earlier this month to take the Libyan capital, defying international calls to halt their battle against fighters loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord based in Tripoli.

Haftar, 75, a former general in Gaddafi’s army who later joined the revolt against him, moved his troops out of their eastern stronghold to take the oil-rich desert south earlier this year before sweeping up to Tripoli at the start of April.

But Fayez Al-Serraj’s National Accord government has managed to halt the advance for now, aided by forces with machine-guns on pickups and steel containers across the road into Tripoli.

150 killed in battle

for Tripoli: WHO

At least 147 people have been killed and 614 wounded in the offensive launched on April 4 by Haftar to take the capital Tripoli, the World Health Organization said Monday.

The clashes have displaced more than 18,000 people, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.The rising number of casualties has prompted the World Health Organization to deploy surgical teams "to support Tripoli-area hospitals as they cope with the influx of trauma cases", the UN agency wrote on Twitter.

At least eight ambulances have been hit during clashes in the southern outskirts of the capital, as both sides have defied international calls to halt the fighting.

WHO urged "all parties to exercise restraint and avoid causing collateral damage to hospitals, ambulances and health workers".

In addition to ground fighting, both pro-government forces and Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) carry out daily air raids and accuse each other of targeting civilians.

The resulting casualties have left health facilities in "critical need of assistance", according to the United Nations refugee agency. — Agencies