The head of Libya's UN-backed unity government on Tuesday held a rare meeting with a military strongman who supports a rival authority based in the east of the country, official media said.

Fayez al-Sarraj and Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar met face-to-face in Abu Dhabi, the LANA news agency loyal to the eastern-based parliament said, for only the second time since Sarraj was named prime minister-designate in late 2015.