TRIPOLI, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Libya’s internationally recognised government said on Thursday that it had reopened Mitiga, Tripoli’s only functioning airport, following almost a day of closure after rockets were fired towards it.
Mitiga, just east of central Tripoli, has repeatedly come under attack in recent months, forcing airport authorities to halt flights for several hours.
The eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), led by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, said on Wednesday that it had shot down a Turkish drone in southern Tripoli.
Haftar started an offensive in April to seize Tripoli from the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).
Mitiga airport authorities said late on Wednesday they were suspending air traffic “until further notice” after Haftar’s spokesman threatened to attack planes flying over the city.
“Any military or civilian aircraft, regardless of its affiliation, flying over the capital will be destroyed,” warned Haftar’s spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari, adding that such flights would be considered a violation of the ceasefire in place since Jan 12.
Al-Mesmari said the GNA was using the airport for military purposes as a base for Turkish soldiers sent by Ankara in its support.
Turkey has backed the GNA, deploying troops to Libya since early January under a controversial November deal with the Tripoli-based administration. Ankara also signed a maritime agreement with the GNA that saw Turkey claim extensive areas of the Mediterranean Sea to be explored.
Earlier on Wednesday, the airport had suspended flights for several hours after it was targeted by six rockets in an offensive the GNA blamed on its rivals in Libya’s five-year civil war, and called a “flagrant threat” to the safety of air traffic. The attack took place just nine days after the facility reopened following a truce.
The resumption of shelling on the airport and renewed threats by Haftar put the truce brokered by Russia and Turkey on shaky ground, as diplomatic efforts to halt the long-running civil war intensify.
Haftar’s offensive on the capital has threatened to plunge Libya into chaos rivalling the 2011 conflict that led to the removal and killing of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.
