http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/11054194/Libya-in-chaos-as-Islamists-seize-capitals-airport.html
In recent months, Tripoli has become the battleground of a brutal contest for power between a myriad armed factions and now Islamist fighters seize international airport
Islamist fighters stand guard at the entrance of Tripoli international airport
Islamist fighters stand guard at the entrance of Tripoli international airport Photo: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images
By Hassan Morajea in Tripoli and Ruth Sherlock
7:47PM BST 24 Aug 2014
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Islamist militias seized Libya’s international airport, amid chaotic scenes that marked a major victory in their increasingly violent struggle to take political and military control of the country.
Armed factions fought their way in after waging a month-long battle against a rival militia from the Libyan town of Zintan that has transformed the capital Tripoli into a war zone.
“We took control of the airport, and today we have forced Zintan from their two remaining bases. The bases are now under our control,” said Abubaker al-Huta, a member of the Libya Shield, one of the most powerful Islamist groups.
The capital has in recent months become the battleground of a brutal contest for power between a myriad armed factions from rival cities and tribes, but which can be broadly divided between Islamists and those of more secular and nationalist bent.
Libya’s new parliament, elected in June, condemned the move, declaring that the Islamist fighters who took the airport, most of whom are from the coastal city of Misrata, to be “terrorists”.
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However, despite announcing that it would mobilise forces against them, Libya’s government has become increasingly ineffective and powerless over past few recent months.
Islamist militias seized Libya’s international airport
The capital has already slipped from government control, with parliament forced to relocate to the eastern city of Tobruk, for its own safety.
In what appeared to be the beginning of a political coup, the General National Congress, an Islamist-dominated body that was disbanded after like-minded politicians failed to win a majority of seats at the last election, announced that it was going to “resume operations” on Sunday.
Its members, some of whom are also fighters in Ansar al-Sharia and Fajr Libya, the two main Islamist armed groups, were due to meet in Tripoli to discuss the running of the country.
The result is two concurrent governing bodies in Libya, neither of which have power to control the country.
The elected parliament - the House of Representatives - lacks a functioning national army and instead relies on militias to maintain public security.
But while these forces receive state salaries and wear uniforms, they report in practice to their own independent commanders and towns.
Adding to the chaos, unidentified war planes bombed Islamist targets in Tripoli, the latest in a series of air strikes which have gone unclaimed.
Khalifa Haftar, a renegade general from the time of Col. Muammar Gaddafi whose men have been waging a campaign against Islamist groups in the country’s east, claimed responsibility for two similar bombing raids within the past 10 days.
The attacks hit the military bases of Islamist militias in the capital, and appeared designed to slow their advance on Tripoli airport.
However, it is not clear if the general has the capabilities to carry out such precision strikes, which hit the military bases of Islamist militias in the capital.
The Libyan air force denied it was behind the attacks, in part because it didn’t have the capabilities or technology to carry out such guided attacks.
This has raised suspicions in Libya that foreign countries, including European countries, may have been involved in the strikes - although Italy, Algeria and other countries have denied being behind them.
The Islamists had blamed the raids on Egypt, a government with heavily anti-Islamist leanings.
The groups charged that Libya’s provisional government and parliament had both lost legitimacy through an act of “treason” - their alleged approval of foreign intervention.
However Cairo denied any involvement in the air attacks and on Monday will host a conference for neighbours of Libya, including Algeria, Tunisia, Chad.
The strengthening of extremist Islamist factions is of growing concern of to Libya’s neighbours and western governments alike. Jihadist groups have been able to thrive in Libya’s increasingly lawless and anarchic environment.
Benghazi, once the capital of the revolution against Col. Gaddafi, and central to the Nato-backed war to oust the dictator, is now all but impenetrable for western visitors and local civil rights campaigners, who face attack from the city’s extremist militias.
There was no sign on Sunday the warring in the capital was likely to abate. Islamist militiamen attacked the Tripoli studios of private television station Al-Assima which supports more nationalist rebel groups and kidnapped its crew.
Al-Assima, in a news bulletin, said equipment was destroyed and the crew went missing.
Smoke could be seen rising over the southwest of the capital, and aeroplanes could be heard overhead.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the recent fighting, and thousands more have fled. Those left behind said they were just desperate for stability, at whatever cost: “If the Misrata [Islamist] forces taking control of the airport or anything else means the fighting will end then good,” said Bahaa Nasser, a resident.
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