Haftar's Army Says Inflicted Serious Damage To Turkish Forces By Hitting Al-Watiya Base

Haftar's Army Says Inflicted Serious Damage to Turkish Forces by Hitting Al-Watiya Base

The Libyan National Army (LNA) has caused significant damage to Turkish positions by attacking the Al-Watiya airbase in western Libya, LNA Moral Guidance Department Head Brig. Gen. Khaled Mahjoub said

CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2020) The Libyan National Army (LNA) has caused significant damage to Turkish positions by attacking the Al-Watiya airbase in western Libya, LNA Moral Guidance Department Head Brig. Gen. Khaled Mahjoub said.

The LNA's air force claimed to have launched nine airstrikes on the Al-Watiya military base on Sunday.

According to the LNA official, forces led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar managed to destroy around 80 percent of its targets, including anti-aircraft missile systems.

"Attacks that hit Turkey's Hawk systems at the base were a damaging blow. ... The timing of this attack is important," Mahjoub told the Al Arabiya broadcaster.

The LNA is ready to defend the Libyan people "against the Turkish occupation," the official added.

For almost a decade, Libya has been split between two rival administrations, the western-based Government of National Accord (GNA), backed by Turkey, and the Tobruk-based parliament, supported by Egypt and working in cooperation with Haftar's LNA.

In April, forces of the Tripoli-based GNA regained control over the Libyan-Tunisian border in the wake of its rapid advance and the seizure of Libya's Sabratah, Surman and Al-Ajaylat, located west of Tripoli.

In mid-May, the GNA announced it had recaptured the Al-Watiya base, located not so far from the border with Tunisia, from the LNA.