Libya's Interior Minister Abdussalam Ashour (C) speaks at a press conference in Tripoli, Libya, Sept. 17, 2018. Regular security forces will be re-deployed to secure Mitiga International Airport in Libya's capital Tripoli, Interior Minister Abdussalam Ashour announced Monday. The airport was closed twice recently because of indiscriminate shelling, as the capital witnessed violent clashes between the government forces and the "7th Brigade" militia from the city of Tarhuna, some 80 km southeast of Tripoli. (Xinhua)
TRIPOLI, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Regular security forces will be re-deployed to secure Mitiga International Airport in Libya's capital Tripoli, Interior Minister Abdussalam Ashour announced Monday.
"A central security force headed by a brigadier general will fully secure the airport from the inside, in coordination with the Ports Department," Ashour told a press conference held at the airport.
"The redeployment is part of the new security arrangements in Tripoli," he added.
The airport was closed twice recently because of indiscriminate shelling, as the capital witnessed violent clashes between the government forces and the "7th Brigade" militia from the city of Tarhuna, some 80 km southeast of Tripoli.
The clashes have so far killed 78 people, injured 210 others, and forced 1,800 families to flee their homes.
The UN Mission in Libya brokered a cease-fire agreement between the fighting parties to stop the violence in the city. However, the 7th Brigade threatened to break the truce in Tripoli and resume fighting.
The Libyan Tribal Forum held in Tarhuna on Saturday demanded the government of UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj "delegitimize and disarm the armed militias in control of the capital within three days."
Libya has been suffering insecurity and escalating violence since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.
