Tripoli airport reopens after closure due to clashes

By Reuters - Sep 26,2018 - Last updated at Sep 26,2018

Libyan militiamen loyal to the Government of National Accord, Libya’s internationally recognised government, celebrate their advances in the field in the south of the Libyan capital Tripoli, on Tuesday (AFP photo)

TRIPOLI — The only functioning airport in the Libyan capital Tripoli will reopen its airspace on Wednesday afternoon after clashes between rival militias forced it to close two weeks ago, the airport administration said.

Mitiga Airport was shut after rockets were fired in its direction. Flights were diverted to Misrata Airport about 190km east of Tripoli.

“The carriers are expected to resume flights by the beginning of next week” the administration said.

The facility, a former US military base, closed twice this month due to indiscriminate shelling but no severe damages were reported.

At least 115 people were killed and more than 380 wounded in the fighting that pitted the Seventh Brigade, or Kaniyat, from Tarhouna, a town 65km southeast of Tripoli, against the Tripoli Revolutionaries’ Brigades and the Nawasi, two of the capital’s largest armed groups.

Tripoli and western Libya are run by a UN-backed government mainly supported by armed groups, while eastern Libya is controlled by a rival administration. The country has been in spiralling into violent chaos since Muammar Qadhafi was toppled in 2011.

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