Yet another Obama success story. Islamist radicals Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) have seized control of Tripoli’s airport.
|
| Islamist radicals Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) capture Tripoli’s airport |
|---|
Islamist fighters in the Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) coalition said on Saturday they have captured Tripoli’s battered international airport after many days of clashes with nationalist militiamen.
If independent sources confirm the airport has changed hands, it would be a major defeat for the nationalist fighters from Zintan west of Tripoli who have held the airport since the fall of long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
A statement shown on screen on An-Nabaa television, regarded as close to the Islamists, said: “Fajr Libya announces that it totally controls Tripoli international airport.”
Earlier on Saturday, leaders of the Islamist coalition, partly comprising men from Misrata, east of Tripoli, said their forces were advancing on the airport, having taken a bridge and a military base.
The strategic site 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of the Libyan capital, has been shut since July 13 amid skirmishes between the Islamists and the Zintan force, allies of rogue general Khalifa Haftar, based at Benghazi in eastern Libya and hostile to the Islamists.