Haftar forces shoot down rival Libyan warplane near strategic port city

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / Libyan pro-government forces walk next to their vehicle mounted with a machine gun on May 18, 2016 in Abu Grein, south of Libya’s third city Misrata, a day after Libya’s unity government recaptured the area from the Islamic State (IS) group.four of the Bodies of The organization of the Islamic State (Daash) in a truck in Abu Qurayn About 300 km east of the Libyan capital Tripoli , on May 18, 2016. The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) forces said on Facebook that they recaptured Abu Grein strategic crossroads, where the coastal highway meets the main road south into the desert interior on May 17, 2016./

The Libyan National Army (LNA), headed by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, has shot down a military aircraft en route from the city of Misrata, an official representative of the military announced.

“The reports have just emerged that the Libyan National Army shot down a military aircraft that departed from Misrata,” LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said during a news conference in Benghazi on Wednesday.

It remains unclear whether the jet belonged to the Government of National Accord (GNA) or a foreign force.

This comes after earlier in the day a Libyan National Army (LNA) source told Sputnik that the Government of National Accord (GNA) aviation was targeting Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s LNA positions located not far from Libya’s capital, Tripoli.

The situation in Libya, which has been divided between two rival governments, with an elected parliament governing the country’s east and the UN- and EU-backed GNA ruling the west from Tripoli, further escalated in the beginning of April, when the LNA, backed by the eastern government, announced on Thursday an offensive against Tripoli in a bid to oust, what Haftar called terrorist forces, from the city.

In response, armed forces loyal to the GNA started a military operation against the LNA on Sunday.

Source: Sputnik