The last foreign airline operating in Libya has suspended all flights to and from the country, cutting Tripoli off from the world by air as it slides further into chaos.
Turkish Airlines said yesterday that it had suspended flights to Misrata, its only remaining destination in Libya, after it had earlier cancelled its flights to the capital, Tripoli, and to Benghazi and the inland desert city of Sebha.
"We have suspended our Misrata flights until further notice, due to operational issues," a company spokesman said.
Since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011, Libya has tumbled into chaos. As its UN-recognised government skulks in the eastern city of Tobruk, an Islamist-dominated assembly has clung onto power in Tripoli - despite losing an election. The two governments are allied to rival militias but their control over the fighters is limited.
Forces loyal to Libya's internationally recognised government began air strikes on militia-held Misrata at the end of last month, hitting its school of aviation, just 30 minutes after a Turkish Airlines flight had taken off. The port and a steel plant were also hit.
Yesterday the Tobruk government demanded tighter control over sea routes to the country, threatening to shoot at any vessel approaching ports without its permission.
A day earlier, it drew stinging criticism from the Greek authorities after Libyan warplanes bombed a Greek-owned oil tanker, killing two European crewmen. Greece's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack as "unprovoked and cowardly" but the Tobruk government insisted that the tanker had been carrying militants to the Islamist-held town of Derna, where one of the town's patchwork of militant groups has declared allegiance to Islamic State.
On Monday, a Tobruk government representative appealed for weapons with which to fight the militias, calling on UN member nations to fulfil their "legal and moral responsibilities". -
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