They don't know what to do anymore

because whenever there's a shelling,

you can't leave your house.

So you just have to sit and wait for your fate."

After years of civil war, many Libyans

have come to expect the bombings,

the airstrikes, the clashes.

But now Libya faces the coronavirus pandemic.

Now life in this conflict zone that

seemed like it couldn't get any worse

suddenly has in just a matter of weeks.

"The war should stop in order to have a better chance

of dealing with the virus.

It doesn't mean that we will easily beat it."

But the war hasn't stopped.

Years of conflict have not only

led to conditions that make it easier for the virus

to spread but forces pushing to seize the capital city

now seem to be exploiting the pandemic to inflict

maximum terror on civilians by shelling areas where people

are clearly trapped at home under curfew

and by attacking Libya's already overwhelmed

hospitals.

There are 25 confirmed cases of the coronavirus

in Libya as of April 12, but testing is extremely limited,

and the number is likely to grow.

In the capital of Tripoli, residents face a dire choice.

Do they stay in their homes and risk getting hit

by shells or do they flee and risk contracting the virus?

"Everyone's worried.

They don't know what's going to happen with their lives.

Is it going to end because of the coronavirus?

Is it going to end because of the continuous shelling?

People are just lost."

Libya's civil war began six years ago.

And the fighting is between two main groups,

the UN-recognized government of National Accord,

based in the capital of Tripoli

and the Libyan National Army led

by a military strongman who's based

in Benghazi to the east.

For the past year, the LNA has been

attacking Tripoli on its push to control the country.

The front line has moved into the suburbs,

sending residents fleeing deeper into the city,

crowding closer together.

We spoke to one resident who's had to move twice,

from this area further and further into the dense city.

She asked that we only use her voice.

These conditions will likely make it much easier

for the virus to spread.

When the pandemic began, both sides of the conflict

imposed curfews.

They readied hospitals and public areas.

They put on masks and continued fighting.

Eventually they agreed to pause

the fighting because of the virus,

but the agreement didn't last.

The LNA had pledged on Facebook

to halt its advance on Tripoli--

--but we found that its forces resumed attacks on the city

within minutes.

And just one day after the first confirmed coronavirus

case was announced, the LNA began its worst shelling

on residential areas that anyone could remember,

despite the fact that people were clearly

stuck in their homes under curfew and self-quarantine.

"I've never felt so close to death

as I am feeling right now, right here in Tripoli.

You're living in confusion, and you don't know--

you're just very lost."

It's in moments like this, under mandatory curfew

and under a rain of shells, that many

feel there's no way out.

It's not just people at home being hit.

It's doctors at work too.

The LNA has rarely attacked major civilian hospitals

over the past year, but since the pandemic,

one hospital complex has been struck three times

in less than a week.

The hospital was well known for treating

coronavirus patients.

It was evacuated and forced to briefly close.

The international community condemned the hospital

attacks but to little effect.

The war continues to rage.

One analysis found that violence

in Tripoli over the past year has

spiked during the pandemic.

"And the fighters, I mean, you cannot really quarantine

them.

They are moving from a city to another.

Despite the situation that we have,

they are going to take their share of the hospitals' beds,

and that will make dealing with coronavirus patients

even harder."

Some international aid has reached Libya,

but the world at large is mostly focused elsewhere

on fighting the pandemic and their own countries.

And so many Libyans are left to fend for themselves

as they wait to see just how far the war and the virus

will spread.