By Callum Paton.
Tripoli, 15 July 2014:
The interim government has said it is discussing the option of . . .[restrict]foreign intervention in the face of unchecked aggression at Tripoli Airport saying the violence could plunge Libya into chaos.
In a statement issued in the early hours of this morning, as clashes raged at the airport, the government said it could ask international forces to intervene to protect national institutions and guarantee the lives of civilians. The announcement came following an emergency cabinet meeting.
The government called on all military factions to cease their operations and report any field commanders breaching this order to the authorities. It asked forces at Tripoli Airport to withdraw from their positions to a distance of 20 kilometres although it did not say how it would enforce this.
According to official reports 90 percent of the planes which had remained at Tripoli Airport have been damaged. Many of them are completely are completely destroyed. Similarly the government has said the airports customs building and maintenance facilities were destroyed during last night’s rocket attacks.
A committee of elder and prominent Misratan and Zintani figures has been charged by the government with finding a resolution to the current crisis. Its decision, the government has said, will be binding and will be passed on to the Arab League, the African Union, the EU and the US.
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