Libya's internationally recognised government claimed a significant symbolic victory on Monday as its forces captured a strategic air-base from General Khalifa Khaftar's Libyan National Army. Osama Juweili, a senior commander with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, said troops entered Watiya airbase, 80 miles southwest of the capital, early on Monday morning. GNA media posted pictures of what it said was a Russian-made Pantsir air defence system captured at the base. There was no immediate confirmation from the LNA, although a spokesman earlier said it had evacuated troops from the base after it came under intense bombardment. Watiya was a key foothold for Gen Haftar's forces, which are backed by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and
Russia, in western Libya. Its fall marks his biggest setback since he sparked the current round of Libya's civil war by launching an assault on Tripoli in April 2019. It is the latest of a series of gains for the GNA since
Turkey openly began supplying weapons and personnel to Tripoli at the beginning of the year.
Turkish supplied drones pounded Watiya for weeks ahead of Monday's assault. Violence in Libya has escalated despite international pressure on both sides to pause the fighting to allow the country's doctors to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic. Libya has reported at least 65 cases of the virus, including three deaths. At least seven people were killed a university campus being used to house families displaced by fighting in Tripoli came under artillery
fire on the weekend. Fayez Serraj, the GNA Prime Minister, said in a statement that the "victory does not constitute the end of the battle but brings us closer than any time before to the bigger victory, the liberation of all towns and regions and bases."