U.N. chief to foreign forces: 'Leave the Libyans alone'

FILE PHOTO: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the lower house of parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, December 18, 2020. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for thousands of foreign fighters and mercenaries to immediately leave Libya, with Guterres demanding that they "leave the Libyans alone."

Libya has been divided since 2014 between the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in the capital Tripoli, in the country's west, and Khalifa Haftar's eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA).