FILE PHOTO
Fri 01 May 2020:
Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) conducted five air operations targeting militants loyal to renegade commander Khalifa Haftar at Al-Watiya airbase southwest of the capital Tripoli, a local official said early Friday.
Al-Watiya is regarded as a key airbase in the country and is second only to Mitiga Airport. It was captured in August 2014 by Haftar, the leader of illegally armed forces in eastern Libya, who used it as his headquarters for western operations.
“The operation targeted Haftar’s forces and military ammunition,” GNA military spokesman Mohammed Qanunu said in a statement.
As part of Operation Peace Storm, air operations are being periodically carried out against the base, which is mostly controlled by Haftar’s militias.
The GNA has been under attack by Haftar’s forces since last April, with more than 1,000 killed in the violence. It launched Operation Peace Storm on March 26 to counter attacks on the capital.
Airstrikes on military convoy
Earlier, the Libyan government carried out six airstrikes on a military convoy of Haftar’s forces south of Tripoli.
“Our air forces carried out six airstrikes on an armed convoy of terrorist Haftar’s militia,” Qanunu said in a statement by the press center of the GNA-led Operation Volcano of Rage.
The statement said the operation was carried out on a road between the Kariyyat and Nesma regions near Mersit Valley.
It did not provide further details.
Since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: Haftar in eastern Libya, supported mainly by Egypt and the UAE, and the GNA in Tripoli, which enjoys UN and international recognition.
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