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Libya War Escalates as Health Care System Crumbles

Heather Murdock

   ISTANBUL, TURKEY - Minutes after the explosion on Monday, doctors and
   other witnesses started circulating videos online. Another hospital
   compound in Tripoli had been hit.

   "Look at this," said one man, filming the fire from a hospital balcony.
   "We are doctors, only peaceful doctors."

   Last month, both sides of Libya's now one-year-old war for Tripoli
   again agreed to a cease-fire as the coronavirus pandemic spread around
   the world. But since then, bombings can be heard daily from Tripoli
   homes as the fighting escalates and the health care system crumbles.

   An added level of horror hit Tripoli, after an attack Tuesday on a
   water facility apparently cut pipelines into the city. By afternoon,
   some families reported their faucets were running dry at a time when
   their main defense against the virus is hand washing.

   "My wife opened the sink and there was nothing," said Ahmed, 37, a
   goldsmith and father of two on the phone from Tripoli.

   Tripoli residents are living under a 19-hour-a-day lockdown to try to
   prevent the pandemic from spreading beyond the 18 cases and 1 death
   reported as of April 6.

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