A Libyan airliner preparing to land at the Mitiga airport, the only functioning Libyan capital Tripoli, narrowly escaped Sunday night from a bombing, according to an airport source. "The crew and the 124 passengers on the Benghazi-Tripoli flight have escaped thanks to God from a bombing that targeted the Mitiga airport," the airport management said on its Facebook page.
As a result of this incident, air traffic was suspended for a few hours and flights diverted to the city of Misrata, 200 km further east, as a security measure. Flights from and to Mitiga were able to resume late in the night from Sunday to Monday, according to the direction of the airport.
The airport has already been closed several times because of fighting between forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Unity (GNA) and those of the Libyan National Army (NLA) of the strongman from the East, Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive on April 4 to conquer Tripoli. The ANL, which has several times struck against Mitiga, accuses the GNA of using the airport "for military purposes", from which, according to it, they take off Turkish drones targeting its forces.
Repeated attacks
The UN support mission in Libya (Manul) expressed concern about the "increasing frequency" of these attacks, which have almost touched civilian aircraft many times. "These attacks have continued unabated since the beginning of the ANL offensive against Tripoli on April 4, despite calls by the United Nations for the protection of all civilian infrastructure and the precautions to be taken to protect the civilian population ", said Manul Sunday night.
In a videoconference with the UN Security Council on July 29, UN envoy for Libya Ghassan Salamé noted "with concern the increasing frequency of attacks on the Mitiga airport". "Many of these attacks have almost touched civilian planes with passengers on board," he said, worried about an "almost daily" bombing.
Located a few kilometers east of Tripoli, Mitiga is an old military platform used for civilian traffic to replace the international airport of Tripoli, severely damaged in 2014 by fighting.