By Dr. Rene Tebel
In the early hours of Saturday morning, heavy missile attacks took place on Tripoli's airport Mitiga and in the south of the Libyan capital.
According to Brega Petroleum Marketing Company, four storage tanks for jet fuel were set ablaze at the airport and six others were damaged. In addition to the runway, two Airbus A 320 and A 330 civilian passenger planes that were also hit, one of which was supposed to bring Libyans stranded in Spain back home.
According to Al-Masdar News and Bulgarian Military, the capital's only operating airport to date also serves as Turkey's main base in Libya. This was also confirmed by a report by Asharq Al-awsat on February 1.
Courtesy Tebel Report
This would also explain Ankara's reaction on Sunday. In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry warned General Haftar's militia that "if our missions and our interests in Libya are targeted, we will deem Haftar's forces legitimate targets", as Al-Arabya mentioned.
Meanwhile, the unease about Turkey's first direct military operation in Africa is also growing. Six Tunisian opposition parties, for example, strictly reject partisanship in the war in Libya and warns Yasir Arman, deputy head of Sudan's SPLM-N, according to the Sudan Tribune, that Turkish agendas threaten the political stability of its neighboring countries.
’This article and map were republished with the permission of Tebel Report
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Al Bawaba News.
