Libya’s elected parliament, the House of Representatives, has approved a new cabinet amid escalating political tensions and fears of descent into civil war.

The House of Representatives is currently based in the small, eastern city of Tobruk, while a rival Islamist-led parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), holds sway in Tripoli.

The newly approved cabinet consists of 13 ministers, after a previous cabinet list with a 16-member line-up was rejected last week for being too large.

Included in the line-up are three deputies for Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni. Mohammed al-Dairi, a former UN official, will be foreign minister.

There will be no oil minister or defence minister, with National Oil Corporation (NOC) running the oil sector and the chief of staff running the military.

The GNC is backed by Libya Dawn, a powerful coalition of militias that took control of Tripoli in August after defeating rival militias from Zintan following weeks of fighting with heavy weapons.

The House of Representatives is recognised by the international community and was voted in during country-wide elections in June.