Libya's UN-recognised government scored another battlefield victory Monday against strongman Khalifa Haftar, capturing a key rear base used by his fighters in a conflict now in its second year.
Haftar, who controls swathes of eastern Libya, launched an offensive in April last year against the capital Tripoli, seat of the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).
On Monday, the GNA said its forces had seized the strategic Al-Watiya airbase southwest of Tripoli, representing the latest in a string of setbacks suffered by Haftar's camp in recent weeks, including the loss of two key western coastal cities in April.
"We proudly announce the liberation of Al-Watiya base," 140 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Tripoli, said Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the GNA, in a statement.
The reported capture of Al-Watiya comes after a weeks-long siege by pro-GNA forces of the base, where Haftar had stationed aircraft for bombing runs against his rivals.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Haftar camp. But Wolfram Lacher, a senior associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, said a withdrawal of Haftar fighters from Al-Watiya would ease pressure on GNA forces.
"Haftar's forces withdrew from Al-Watiya airbase, their last foothold on the (western) coastal plain," Lacher said on Twitter. In recent weeks pro-GNA forces had stepped up air strikes against Haftar's fighters, targeting their supply lines around Al-Watiya.
"Today's success is not the end of the battle but it brings us closer than ever to victory when all cities and regions will be liberated and the tyrannical bid threatening democracy (is) crushed," Sarraj said. The conflict pitting Haftar against the GNA has been exacerbated by foreign military intervention.
The United Arab Emirates and Russia back the eastern-based strongman while Turkey supplies the unity government. Prior to seizing Al-Watiya, GNA forces pounded it from the air using drones supplied by Turkey, while also bombarding the town of Tarhuna.
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