Tripoli Mitiga Airport has suspended operations until further notice following a series of airstrikes in the latest ongoing chapter in the Libyan Civil War, with airlines transferring operations to Misurata.
The management of Mitiga International Airport announced that air navigation had been suspended in “a decision issued by the head of the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority, and navigation will return only by a similar letter from the authorised authority and after consultation with the relevant authorities”, a statement from the airport said.
A military base converted into a second civilian airport for Tripoli in 1995, Mitiga has two asphalt runways, 1,830-metre-long 03/21 and 3,380-metre 11/29. However, it had been Tripoli’s only functioning airport since April when Tripoli International was closed during the 2019 Western Libya offensive.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) reported that an airstrike on September 1 was the seventh time since the end of July that Mitiga had been struck by "indiscriminate shelling". A media officer for Tripoli's Government of National Accord (GNA) told Reuters that four people had been wounded in that attack, including three haj pilgrims.
UNSMIL said that four projectiles had hit the civilian parts of the airport including one of the runways, resulting in damage to an aircraft carrying returning pilgrims, also wounding two crew members. Photos on social media showed a damaged Libyan Airlines (LN, Tripoli Mitiga) aircraft, Reuters said.
The airport has been targeted during fighting involving the Libyan National Army (LNA), which launched an offensive earlier this year for control of the capital. The LNA said it had been targeting the operation of Turkish drones at the airport, according to Reuters.
The UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, said that UNSMIL would file a case at the International Criminal Court, the UN Security Council, and the UN Libya Sanctions Committee about the attacks on Tripoli Mitiga.
