Flights suspended at Maitgua airport in Tripoli

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Air traffic was suspended on Friday morning until further notice at Tripoli's Maitigua airport, the airport's management announced, a sign of the escalation of  the ongoing violence  in the Libyan capital.

Shells fell on Thursday evening and this morning at Matigua airport in the eastern suburbs of Tripoli, according to corroborative sources .

The only airport available to Tripoli and most cities in the west of the country, Maitigua airport was reopened in late November after three months of closure due to shelling.

Since the offensive launched last April by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libyan National Army (LNA) , to take control of the capital and overthrow the Government of National Accord(GNA), the airport has been regularly the target of airstrikes and rocket fire, leading to the suspension of flights.

It is recalled that the military escalation has increased in recent days around Tripoli with the intensification of fighting that has continued since 4 April, following the offensive launched by the troops of the LNA to take the Libyan capital, seat of the GNA led by Fayez al-Sarraj, recognised by the international community.

-0- PANA BY/JSG/BBA/MA 3Jan2020