Warplane strikes Tripoli airport forcing authorities to suspend operations as Libya crisis escalates
A vehicle belonging to Libyan pro-internationally recognised government forces is seen after the forces retook control of Tripoli International Airport, in Tripoli, Libya April 8, 2019. A warplane attacked Tripoli's only functioning airport, a resident said.A security source at Mitiga airport east of the city said no side had yet claimed responsibility for the raid, which hit a runway without causing casualties.
But the UN-backed government of Prime Minister Fayez al Serraj has armed groups arriving from nearby Misrat a to help block the LNA.US urges 'immediate halt' to military offensive by Haftar – Pompeo The Health Ministry of the UN-backed Libyan government of National Accord said in a statement late on Sunday that clashes in the southern part ofthe capital, Tripoli, resulted in 11 killed and 23 wounded.Earlier, the UN said there had been "no truce" despite calls for a two-hour pause in fighting for civilians and the wounded to flee.
The UN made an "urgent" appeal on Sunday for a two-hour truce in the southern suburbs of Tripoli to evacuate wounded and civilians as Libyan forces of strongman Khalifa Haftar pushed to take the capital. "Due to increased unrest in Libya, a contingent of US forces supporting US Africa Command temporarily relocated from the country in response to security conditions on the ground," it said in a statement.Forces loyal to Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar were pressing on at the weekend with an offensive on the capital Tripoli, seat of the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord .
"We strongly condemn the air raid... in the Al Aziziya region" by a plane, which had taken off from western Misrata," the forces media office said. Eastern Libyan forces on Friday seized the former Tripoli International Airport on the southern outskirts of the capital, a spokesman said.
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