TRIPOLI, Libya — An Islamist-allied militia group in control of Libya’s capital now guards the US Embassy and its residential compound, a commander said Sunday, as onlookers toured the abandoned homes of diplomats who fled the country more than a month ago.
Holes left by small-arms and rocket fire dotted the residential compound, reminders of weeks of violence between rival militias over control of Tripoli that sparked the evacuation.
The breach of a deserted US diplomatic post may reinvigorate debate in the United States over its role in Libya, more than three years after supporting rebels who toppled dictator Moammar Khadafy. It also comes just before the two-year anniversary of the slaying of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Libya.
A commander for the Dawn of Libya group, Moussa Abu-Zaqia, said his forces had been guarding the residential compound since last week, a day after it seized control of the capital and its international airport after weeks of fighting with a rival militia. Abu-Zaqia said the rival militia from Zintan was in the compound before his troops took it over.
Some windows at the compound had been broken, but it appeared most of the equipment remained untouched. Some papers lay strewn on the floor, but it didn’t appear that villas in the compound had been ransacked.