Libya airport closed in face of armed clashes

Smoke rises after a shelling at Tripoli International Airport July 15, 2014. The airport sustained extensive damage after coming under shellfire which killed two soldiers, knocked out the control tower and damaged 90 percent of planes parked there. The airport area is under the control of former fighters from the western town of Zintan who have held it since the fall of Tripoli in 2011. Rival Islamist-leaning militias fought with the Zintanis in recent days but failed to dislodge them. REUTERS/Hani Amara (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TRANSPORT)

Tripoli. — Armed clashes broke out in Libya’s capital Tripoli closing down the city’s main working airport, local residents and an official said yesterday. Tripoli has been mostly calm since the Libya Dawn force, an armed faction allied to the city of Misrata, took over the capital in the summer and set up its own government in rivalry to Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni. It was not immediately clear who was involved in yesterday’s fighting, and there was no confirmation from health authorities of any casualties.

A spokesperson for the civil aviation authority said Mitiga Airport had been closed because of the security situation. Mitiga has operated as the capital’s main airport since fighting in the summer damaged and shut Tripoli international airport.

Thinni’s internationally recognised government and the elected House of Representatives are holed up in the eastern city of Tobruk, and the two factions are now vying for control over Libya and its oil resources.

In the three years since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has struggled to overcome instability with heavily armed rival factions who once fought side by side to oust the autocrat now competing for power. — Reuters.