Libya edged closer to full-blown civil war on Friday as forces of an eastern commander clashed with pro-government militias near the capital, Tripoli, and an effort by the U.N. chief failed to stop the offensive. A battle for control of Tripoli would mark the most significant escalation of violence in oil- and gas-rich Libya since the toppling of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011 following a populist rebellion backed by NATO bombings. After meeting Friday with the renegade warlord, Khalifa Hifter, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said in a tweet that he was leaving Libya “with a heavy heart and deeply concerned.” Hifter reportedly told Guterres that his offensive on Tripoli will continue, according to the al-Arabiya television network. “I […]