By Sami Zaptia.
London, 12 August 2019:
The pro Tripoli fighting operations room claimed that the truce agreed with the pro Khalifa Hafter forces was broken on two occasions by the Khalifa Hafter forces on Sunday, the first day of Eid Al-Adha – feast of sacrifice.
The first claim was the indiscriminate shelling of a residential house in Sug Il Juma by Hafter’s forces that led to the injury of three. The second claim was the shelling of Mitiga airport, Tripoli’s only functioning airport. Sources have confirmed the shelling of Mitiga, but there has been no way of substantiating who was responsible for the shelling.
The shelling of Mitiga led to the closure of the airport to all flights for about six hours. It reopened after a security check and a clear up of debris.
Mitiga has become quite adept at quickly shutting down all flights temporarily and the then, with little fuss, reopening very quickly to resume flights. It has been a miracle that no civilian flights have suffered a direct hit so far – since the start of the conflict on 4 April.
There has been no comment on the alleged incidents by UNSMIL or international community who had undertaken to monitor the truce.
