The Battle of Tripoli Airport was a major event that took place during the

Second Libyan Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Second Libyan Civil War , partof = the Arab Winter, Libyan Crisis, Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, War on terror, and Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomatic conflict , image ...

. It began on 13 July 2014 as part of a series of operations dubbed " Libya Dawn" or " فجر ليبيا" by a coalition of Islamist militias whom led a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

operation against the

House of Representatives (Libya) The Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) ( ar, مجلس النواب, translit=Majlis al-Nuwaab, translation=Council of Deputies) is the legislature of Libya resulting from the 2014 Libyan parliamentary election, which had an 18% turnout. In ...

due to the

2014 Libyan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Libya on 25 June 2014 for the House of Representatives. Whilst all candidates ran as independents, the elections saw nationalist and liberal factions win the majority of seats, with Islamist groups being red ...

and a series of operations to recapture the Airport and political institutions to wrest control over the capital of Tripoli. The battle ended in August 2014 with the capture of the Airport and ultimately its destruction. The battle was fought between an Islamist New General National Congress and the Zintani brigades.

Background

The Zintani Brigades had provided security for Tripoli International Airport since the 2011 War which overthrew Gadhafi. After the defeat of Islamist politicians in the

, the

Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room The Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (abbreviated LROR; ar, غرفة عمليات ثوار ليبيا) is an armed group loyal to Nouri Abusahmain. It has been declared a terrorist organization by the Libyan parliament. It was heavily invol ...

and Misrata Brigades were faced with a largely anti-Islamist

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. Their most powerful political ally,

Nouri Abusahmain Nouri Abusahmain ( ar, نوري أبو سهمين; born October 25, 1956) is a Libyan politician. He is a major figure on the Islamist side of the 2014 Libyan Conflict and founder of the LROR group which is considered "terrorist" by the intern ...

, was faced with an imminent loss of power, and they were likely to lose funding from the

General National Congress The General National Congress or General National Council (GNC; ar, المؤتمر الوطني العام, Berber: Agraw Amuran Amatay) was the legislative authority of Libya for two years following the end of the First Libyan Civil War. It w ...

. The anti-Islamist politicians who won the 2014 elections had previously tried to disband the Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room due to its attempted coup in 2013, and were able to do so after the election results.

Combatants

The New General National Congress coalition, dubbed operation Libya Dawn was composed of the

included the following groups: * Misrata's Al Somood battalion led by Salah Badi * Ghnewa battalion led by Abdul Ghani Al-Kikli, *Al-Qabra battalion led by Suleiman Al Shatwan. *Supported by Qatari and Turkish military training, Intelligence and arms support. The Zintani-led brigades consisted of the following groups: *Al-Qaqa battalion led by Maj.Gen. Othman Al Mulaitaqa *Al-Sawa'iq battalion led by Imad Mustafa Traboulsi *Members of Warshefana battalions. *Received materiel and Air support from the

Libyan National Army The Libyan National Army (LNA; ar, الجيش الوطني الليبي, ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii'') is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa ...

Events

On 13 July the Libya Dawn coalition launched their operation to seize the airport. Many aircraft were destroyed on the ground. The operation received public support from

Grand Mufti The Grand Mufti (also called Chief Mufti, State Mufti and Supreme Mufti) is the head of regional muftis, Islamic jurisconsults, of a state. The office originated in the early modern era in the Ottoman empire and has been later adopted in a num ...

Sadiq Al-Ghariani. On 23 August 2014, Zintani forces withdrew from the airport. They claimed that they withdrew because they had been instructed to do so by the parliament. This was later confirmed by parliamentary sources.

Aftermath

In the immediate aftermath of the battle, large fires and plumes of smoke arose from 4 large kerosene fuel containers that were struck by rocket attacks, polluting the surrounding grounds and the air quality. Roads infrastructure on the exterior of the airport facility was damaged as well as inside the airport with mortar explosions and shrapnel. Residential areas near to the airport were also damaged in the fighting, as some residences were used in the fighting as firing positions by all involved parties. Residential areas surrounding the airport were also damaged during the battle, mostly from light weapons 7.62x32, heavy weapons damage from

zsu-23-2 The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet Union, Soviet towed 23×152mm anti-aircraft autocannon, twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for ''Zenitnaya Ustanovka'' (Russian: Зенитная Установка) – anti-aircraft mount. The GRAU i ...

projectiles,

RPG-7 The RPG-7 (russian: link=no, РПГ-7, Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomyot) is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank, rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Th ...

and on rare occasions larger damage from

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks h ...

rounds. There have been reports of violations against civilians, and GRAD rocket systems being used on civilian residential areas, with civilians caught in the crossfire despite many of them being displaced. The airport main reception and customs building succumbed to catastrophic fire damage after an intense assault was launched by Islamist Libya Dawn and Al Somood militias to capture the facility during the final days of the battle which resulted in the defending Zintani forces withdrawing from the airport. The entirety of the interior of the reception building that housed offices and processing areas, containing flammable materials completely burned off, rendering the mail building unusable. The assault on the airport and deteriorating security in Libya, prompted UN agencies to relocate its staff to neighboring countries. UNSMIL "United Nations Support Mission in Libya" to condemn the violence and the destruction of Civilian infrastructure., resulting in the UN to reiterate its support for a civilian government within Libya and strongly condemned attacks on civilians and infrastructure by adapting resolution 2174(2014), including later placing sanctions on Salah Badi in 2018 for his roles in the assault on Tripoli Airport. More than 20 civilian aircraft were damaged or destroyed, of which 13 belonged to

Afriqiyah Airways Afriqiyah Airways ( ar, الخطوط الجوية الأفريقية ''Al-Khuṭūṭ al-Jawwiyyah al-Afrīqiyyah'') is a state-owned airline based in Tripoli, Libya. Before the 17 February 2011 revolution, it operated domestic services betwee ...

and 7 belonged to Lufthansa. The Airport's air traffic control tower, radar, four major fuel storage containers, main customs and reception building and terminals were destroyed. On August 6, 2014, Amnesty International, UNSMIL and

OHCHR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nat ...

reported a civilian death toll of 214 and 981 injured due to indiscriminate shelling and violence inflicted by militias.

and UNSMIL reported that: Financial losses suffered by the Airline Sector in Libya were roughly estimated to be around $3.5 billion for the destroyed aircraft alone, in addition to huge sums in damage incurred on the airport facility amounting to an estimated $US 70 million dollars for 90% of the facility's destruction. Libyan Airlines a state owned company reported that its losses amounted to $US 200 million reported by its Manager, Ahmed Al Qadiri in a Statement to The New Arab news agency. On July 13, 2014, The Zintani forces within the airport withdrew on Orders from the parliament thus ending the battle at the airport. On September 8, 2014, Human rights watch released a statement condemning violence by both main Militia parties and stated that actions taken by Militias may amount to war crimes. By April 2019, the non-functional Tripoli international Airport was captured by the

and is used as a strategic staging ground for the LNA operation against Libya Dawn Islamist in Tripoli. The airport changed hands when Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord ( GNA) declared itself in full control of Tripoli after recapturing the capital's airport on 4 June 2020 with intensified military support from Turkish government forces, who drove Gen Haftar's forces back from the frontlines.GNA 'regains full control of Tripoli' from Gen Haftar https://news.yahoo.com/libya-conflict-gna-regains-full-102854064.html

References

{{Reflist Tripoli Airport History of Tripoli 21st century in Tripoli Tripoli Airport July 2014 events in Africa August 2014 events in Africa Military operations involving airports Tripoli Airport