Mon 18 May 2020:
Announcement by Tripoli-based administration comes after month-long offensive against forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar.
Libya’s internationally recognised government says it has captured the strategic al-Watiya airbase from fighters loyal to renegade commander Khalifa Haftar.
Military spokesman Mohamed Gnunu said in a Twitter post on Monday that the forces of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) had taken over the entirety of the base near the Tunisian border.
After a withdrawal of #LAAF-aligned forces, the capture of #Wutiya by #GNA-aligned forces is confirmed.
The base has been a strategic asset for #Haftar for over half a decade.
Though its capture is by & large symbolic militarily, strategically & morale-wise, it is significant. https://t.co/2uIMmtToOu pic.twitter.com/xbY1zpkWyv
— Emadeddin Badi (@emad_badi) 18 май 2020 г.
The announcement by the administration of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj came after a month-long counteroffensive that has seen forces allied to it drive Haftar’s forces out of much of Libya’s western coast.
Haftar launched an offensive in April 2019 to seize control of Tripoli, resulting in a stalemated conflict that has killed more than 1,000 people.
Analysts say the GNA’s capture of al-Watiya, located some 25km (16 miles) from the Tunisia border, will allow its forces to fully focus on repelling Haftar’s fighters in southern Tripoli.
The North African country, a major oil producer, has been mired in conflict since 2011 when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed uprising.
It is now split between two rival administrations: the GNA in Tripoli and the eastern-based House of Representatives allied with Haftar and his self-styled Libyan National Army.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS
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