Rival militia have been fighting for the control of the airport for more than a month.
The Islamist-allied Misrata militia from the Libyan Dawn Coalition on Saturday, August 23, 2014 seized the main Tripoli International Airport in the Libyan capital after more than a month of fighting with a rival group of the nationalist militiamen, Reuters reported.
Arab channels Aljazeera and Al-Arabiya also said Misrata forces were controlling the airport. Heavy shelling could be heard in other parts of the city, Reuters further reported, citing pictures on social media that purportedly showed Misrata fighters celebrating at the terminal building and standing on civilian plane. It also cited a statement on An-Nabaa television, regarded as close to the Islamists which said: "Fajr Libya announces that it totally controls Tripoli international airport.”
The fighting around the Tripoli airport has pitted the powerful Zintan militia from the western mountains, a nationalist militia against the Fajr Libya, the Misrata militia of the Libyan Central Shield belonging to the Dawn coalition, Reuters said.
The nationalist fighters from Zintan west of Tripoli have held the airport since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Reports said the fighting in recent weeks has largely destroyed the main international airport in Tripoli which has been closed for two months.
In the NATO-backed campaign to oust Gaddafi, fighters from the western region of Zintan and Misrata, east of Tripoli, were comrades-in-arms. However, they later fell out this year and have turned parts of Tripoli into a battlefield.
The claim of control of the airport on Saturday followed a setback the previous night when an unidentified jet raided the positions of the Libya Dawn, killing at least 10 fighters, a spokesman for the militia said. Libyan Central Shield spokesman Mohamed al-Ghariani said he could not identify the warplane that carried out the raid, just as two aircraft which bombarded Islamist positions on Monday night remain unidentified, Aljazeera reported.
