The forces of the Libyan National Accord government announced today, Wednesday, the start of a battle to regain control of Tripoli Airport from the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar.
Al-Wefaq government spokesman, Colonel Mohamed Qanunu, said that the Libyan Air Force carried out raids on a tank company belonging to Haftar forces in Qasr Bin Ghashir and Tripoli Airport.
Kanunu explained that the forces of the Al-Wefaq government had managed in the past two days to tighten the cordon around Tripoli airport in preparation for the battle to regain control of it.
Haftar's forces took control of Tripoli airport in the midst of the attack they have been waging since April 2019 to take control of the Libyan capital.
Haftar forces are still holed up inside the airport, which came out of service in 2014, knowing that the capital relies on Mitika International Airport for civil aviation flights.
During the past hours, forces of the Al-Wefaq government seized control of Khalah bin Aoun and most of the Ramle axis, and secured the vicinity of the Yarmouk camp south of Tripoli.
A military source said that Al-Wefaq forces seized weapons and ammunition after an attack on Haftar forces in Qasr Bin Ghashir Island, south of the capital, and that they succeeded in destroying a mortar company belonging to Haftar forces in the Wadi Al-Rabi'a axis.
Al-Wefaq forces announced that they had counted 48 bodies of Haftar fighters after the confrontations in the fighting hubs south of Tripoli.
The importance of the battle
The Al-Jazeera correspondent in Tripoli, Nasser Shedeed, explained that the internationally-recognized Al-Wefaq government forces have besieged Tripoli airport from several sides during the past days, and that they have now started a full attack on it as it approaches the airport towers.
He pointed out that Al-Wefaq forces have been bombing Haftar sites inside the airport yesterday evening, Tuesday, with drones to reduce the power of these gatherings.
On the importance of the battle, the Al-Jazeera correspondent said that if Al-Wefaq forces were able to regain control of the airport, Haftar's forces from control areas within the administrative borders of the capital will remain, except Qasr bin Ghashir.
The Qasr Bin Ghashir area is 26 km away from Tripoli, and it is one of the main areas that Haftar forces relied on to supply its members in the fighting axes south of Tripoli.
Al-Jazeera correspondent Nasser Shedeed said that there is news of the imminent launch of an attack by Al-Wefaq forces on the city of Tarhuna, the last center of Haftar forces in the Libyan West.
He indicated that Al-Wefaq forces might then seek to attack the Al-Jafra air base and some oil fields controlled by Haftar forces in southern Libya.
Hifter's forces continue to suffer heavy losses over the past weeks as a result of harsh strikes in the axes south of Tripoli, and the cities of the West Coast, all the way to the border with Tunisia, in addition to the strategic "Al-Wattia" base.
Turkish support for the Al-Wefaq government has changed the balance of power on the ground in the face of Haftar's forces backed by Egypt, the Emirates, France and Russia.