Pro-Haftar forces seize control of airbase from rival faction

Forces loyal to Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar have taken control of an airbase in southern Libya following clashes with a rival faction from the Western city of Misrata, it was reported yesterday.

The Libyan National Army (LNA) lead by Haftar posted pictures and videos of themselves driving into the Tamanhent airbase which had been previously controlled by the Third Force militia who are loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli.

The base was largely empty when Haftar’s forces entered the base. The move will enable the military leader power control to extend into Libya’s central desert region.

Read: Gaddafi family deny support for ‘traitor’ Haftar

The LNA has been making territorial advances under Haftar since late last year after rejecting the GNA’s legitimacy.

Earlier this week, the Third Force reportedly withdrew from the Sharara oil field west of the city of Sabha, Reuters reported. The withdrawal comes a week after the force attacked an airbase northwest of Tamanhent that was previously controlled by Haftar’s LNA resulting in the deaths of 141 soldiers.

Forces loyal to Haftar then carried out retaliatory airstrikes in the country’s south. The GNA condemned the airstrikes and called for an “immediate end to this bombing in order to preserve civil peace”, a statement on the government’s official website said.

Libya’s Tripoli-based Western-recognised unity government had been fighting with the rival administration in eastern Libya for influence over the war-torn country which has suffered from crippling instability since the fall of long-time leader Muammar Gaddaffi in 2011.