Twin tragedies, within hours of each other, have finally returned attention to the vulnerable migrants desperate enough to seek a better and safer life in Europe via Libya. We already knew that those detained there were abused, raped, tortured and trafficked. Now, with the surge in violence following the warlord Khalifa Haftar’s offensive on Tripoli, many of them are living in a warzone – and those who make it out are likely to be sent back.

The UN says that 53 people, including six children, died when the Tajoura detention centre was attacked on Tuesday; some were reportedly fired upon by guards as they tried to flee the assault. The UN human rights chief warned that it might constitute a war crime. The detention camp was sited next to a weapons store; the UN had warned that detainees were at risk, and had provided its precise coordinates to the warring parties.

It is used to unheeded warnings. A few weeks earlier, the UN refugee agency had predicted that the Mediterranean would be “a sea of blood” following the effective criminalisation of search and rescue missions. Of 10 rescue vessels that were previously active, only one remains. The results are predictable: sinkings like the one off the coast of Tunisia on Wednesday, in which more than 80 people are feared dead. Had they instead been intercepted by the Libyan coastguard, under the agreement with the EU, they would have been returned to a site like Tajoura. Last month, almost 1,400 were sent back to detention centres.

The Tajoura attack has been blamed on Mr Haftar’s forces, though he has accused the forces of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord. An estimated 1,000 people have died since he began his assault this spring. But his international backers are also responsible. The US and France, despite recognising the GNA, have made their support for him plain. Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Russia back him. The US blocked a UN security council resolution condemning the assault.

It should be obvious by now that the swift military “solution” Mr Haftar supposedly offered to the chaos that has engulfed Libya since Muammar Gaddafi’s fall is a failure even on its own terms. He insists he will press ahead. Yet one EU diplomat warns of the “cosmic vacuum” within the union with regard to Libya. Even those opposing Mr Haftar’s authoritarianism have little confidence in the GNA.

The GNA has said it is considering closing all the centres and releasing the detained migrants for their safety. But they cannot stay safely in Libya: they need safe passage to Europe. Meanwhile, those who make it to the Mediterranean by their own means need help. That means support for search and rescue activities; proper disembarkation arrangements for vessels; and the end of returns to Libya. Expressions of concern for migrants are hypocrisy of the highest order while states back a warlord, funnel arms to the conflict and then help to trap those trying to flee it.