Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar said his Libyan National Army (LNA) had a “popular mandate” to rule Libya and vowed to press his assault to seize Tripoli, the country’s capital.

He also declared “the end of the Skhirat Agreement”, a 2015 United Nations-mediated deal that consolidated Libya’s government, in a televised address on his Libya al-Hadath TV channel.

“We announce that the general command is answering the will of the people, despite the heavy burden and the many obligations and the size of the responsibility, and we will be subject to the people"s wish. Our forces would work to put in place the necessary conditions to build the permanent institutions of a civil state”, - he said.