Forces loyal to Libyan general Khalifa Haftar carried out an airstrike against the Libyan capital’s only functioning airport, as the rogue military commander defied U.S. calls to halt an assault on Tripoli, Wall Street Journal reported.
Haftar, who opposes an internationally recognized government based in Tripoli, ordered the attack last week, a move that plunged Libya into one of its worst crises since the death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. It has threatened to return the country to all-out civil war as forces allied to the Tripoli government raced to defend the capital.
The fighting has killed at least 21 people and wounded 27 others since the offensive began last week, according to the health ministry in Tripoli. In addition, 2,800 people have been forced to flee, the United Nations said.
The battle pits two sides both marshaling loosely organized forces that are light on air power and heavy weapons. Both sides are believed to control a handful of warplanes, including aging Russian MiGs. They have relied on international support for air power in the past, although no foreign powers have launched air raids during the recent fighting, the Journal added.
The U.S. in 2016 launched some 500 airstrikes in support of the Tripoli government’s forces in a campaign against Islamic State. Two allies of Haftar, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have also launched airstrikes in Libya in recent years.
Mitiga airport, in the eastern quarter of Tripoli, was shuttered after it was attacked by Haftar’s so-called Libyan National Army (LNA). Libya’s United Nations-backed government, the Government of National Accord (GNA), quickly condemned the aerial bombardment, calling it a war crime. There is also fighting around Tripoli’s international airport, 15 miles south of the city center, which has not been operational for years, CNN reported.
The GNA admitted Monday that it temporarily lost control of the site to Haftar’s fighters.”Haftar forces attacked Tripoli four days ago, mainly from the south and got as far as controlling Tripoli international airport,” a GNA official told CNN Monday. “As of yesterday and today, Monday, Haftar forces have been pushed back and Tripoli secured.”
The same official said militias from the coastal towns of Misrata and Zawia — which are not under the GNA’s direct control — deployed troops to the capital as part of the counter-offensive against the LNA.
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