{"id":3964,"date":"2020-01-23T14:55:22","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T14:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=3964"},"modified":"2020-01-23T14:55:22","modified_gmt":"2020-01-23T14:55:22","slug":"libyas-mitiga-airport-closes-again-amid-threats-from-haftar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2020\/01\/23\/libyas-mitiga-airport-closes-again-amid-threats-from-haftar\/","title":{"rendered":"Libya’s Mitiga airport closes again amid threats from Haftar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Libyan capital’s only operational airport has closed again after threats by forces loyal to renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar<\/a>, dealing another setback to peace efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite repeated appeals from the United Nations, the\n airport has been hit multiple times since the start of an offensive in \nApril by fighters led by eastern-based commander Haftar to seize Tripoli\n from the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitiga airport authorities said late on Wednesday they were suspending air traffic “until further notice” after Haftar’s spokesman threatened to attack planes flying over the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Any military or civilian aircraft, regardless of its affiliation, \nflying over the capital will be destroyed,” warned Haftar’s spokesman \nAhmad al-Mesmari, adding that such flights would be considered a \nviolation of the ceasefire in place since January 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Mesmari said the GNA was using the airport for military \npurposes as a base for Turkish soldiers sent by Ankara in its support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey<\/a>\n has backed the GNA, deploying troops to Libya since early January under\n a controversial November deal with the Tripoli-based administration. \nAnkara also signed a maritime agreement with the GNA which saw Turkey \nclaim extensive areas of the Mediterranean Sea to be explored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier on Wednesday, the airport had suspended flights<\/a>\n for several hours after it was targeted by six rockets in an offensive \nthe GNA blamed on its rivals in Libya’s five-year civil war, and called \na “flagrant threat” to the safety of air traffic. The attack took place \njust nine days after the facility reopened following a truce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resumption of shelling on the airport and renewed threats by \nHaftar put the truce brokered by Russia and Turkey on shaky ground, as \ndiplomatic efforts to halt the long-running civil war intensify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haftar’s offensive on the capital has threatened to plunge Libya<\/a> into chaos rivalling the 2011 conflict that led to the removal and killing of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International efforts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN’s top Libya envoy Ghassan Salame opposes UN troop deployment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

World powers have stepped up efforts in recent \nweeks to find a political solution to the grinding conflict, with \nneighbouring Algeria the latest country to host a meeting on it set for \nThursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Algerian foreign ministry said chief diplomats from \nTunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali would meet in Algiers to \nadvance “a political settlement to the crisis through an inclusive \ndialogue between all parties”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Algeria, which has stayed neutral in the Libyan conflict, shares a border of almost 1,000km (621 miles) with its neighbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, world powers with interests in the conflict convened at a peace summit<\/a>\n in Berlin, where they pledged to halt foreign interference, honour a \nwidely violated arms embargo, and support a UN-facilitated political \nprocess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Libyan capital’s only operational airport has closed again after threats by forces loyal to renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, dealing another setback to peace efforts. Despite repeated appeals from the United Nations, the airport has been hit multiple times since the start of an offensive in April by fighters led by eastern-based commander Haftar to seize Tripoli from the UN-recognised… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3965,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964\/revisions\/3965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}