By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 21 July 2014:
Zintan forces are reportedly claimingto have beaten off the Misrata-led Operation Dawn force that tried to dislodge . . .[restrict]them from Tripoli International Airport.
Meanwhile, the destruction of aircraft in the fighting, which began on Sunday 13 July and in which at least 47 people are reported by the Ministry of Health to have been killed and 120 injured, is now put at $2 billion. However, the figure is being questioned.
In an overnight but undated and unsigned statement on Ministry of Defence paper from the Zintan Revolutionaries’ Military Council, a copy of which was given to the Libya Herald by a prominent Zintani activist, the Zintanis said that they had defeated the Operation Dawn attackers, referring to them and those who supported them as “terrorists”.
The statement accused the Dar Al-Ifta headed by the Grand Mufti of giving its blessing to the attackers.
All those who had supported Operation Dawn should be prosecuted, the statement demanded.
It also said that Zintan stood with the Libyan people and the country’s democratic transition. In particular, it added, Zintanis supported the new House of Representatives. It should start work in Benghazi as soon as possible, it said.
The Zintan statement also called for a conference of all revolutionary groups in the country.
Yesterday, it was reported that the Zintanis had pushed back the Misratan-led forces from the airport and nearby Gasr Ben Gashir and that they were in control of all the Airport Road, past Abu Sleem and as far as Bab Al-Azziziya.
There were also reports yesterday evening that one of the leaders of the Misratan forces, Congressman Salahaddin Badi, had returned to Misrata and that former Supreme Security Committee commander Abdul Ghani Kikli, known as Ghnaiwa, was surrounded in Abu Sleem. Neither report has been confirmed.
On the other hand, there are also reports that most Misratan led militias had reached an agreement brokered by Tripoli Local Council to pullout – and had indeed pulled out – from the Tripoli Airport battle, on the basis that the airport is handed over to a third party (Jadu militias) in the short term – until the state is able to take it over.
It is self-evident by the scale of the fighting that by no means are all or even most Misrata-based militias are involved in the fighting. What transpires is that the more extremist militias, allegedly such as the one led by Salah Badi, had rejected the brokered peace deal and continued the fighting.
In a separate statement claiming to come from Tripoli International Airport administration, the costs of the destruction of 21 aircraft over the past eight days has been put at $1.98 billion. The statement is not seen as reliable, however. The figures represent the costs of replacing all of the aircraft hit. Although five aircraft have been totally destroyed, aviation experts have said that others can be repaired relatively easily.
The cost of damage to the control tower and the airport terminal were not included in the costs. [/restrict]
