Haftar fires Russian missiles at Libyan capital
Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) has bombarded the Tripoli airport using a Russian “Grad” multiple rocket launcher, said Muhammed Kununu, spokesperson for Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), Anadolu reports.
Kununu said that six projectiles had exploded at the only active airport, which created a direct threat to the Libyan capital’s airspace.
On January 19, a peace conference on Libya was held in Berlin. The countries represented urged the LNA and GNA to agree to a ceasefire, promised to refrain from interference in the country, and proposed the creation of a unified government.
That same day, GNA leader Fayez Sarraj urged the conference participants to put pressure on Haftar. He took it as a bad sign that the global community was silent regarding the closing of Libya’s oil export ports by Haftar’s forces.
Libya currently has two competing organs of executive government: the internationally recognized GNA, and a temporary cabinet which operates in the east of the country alongside parliament and the LNA. The civil war began in 2011 following the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, who had ruled the country since 1969.