TRIPOLI: The United Nations urged restraint on Friday after Libya’s Tripoli-based government put its forces on high alert for an assault by fighters loyal to an eastern-based strongman in the remote southern desert. Energy-rich Libya has been wracked by unrest since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising. It is split between the UN-recognized government in the capital Tripoli in the west and a rival administration backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar that rules from Benghazi and Tobruk in the east.