Libya's GNA govt. protests at 'untruths' in UN report

The Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) has protested at UN envoy Ghassan Salame's latest report to the United Nations Security Council on the ongoing conflict in the North African country.

Fayed al-Sarraj, head of the UN-recognized GNA which is based in Tripoli, summoned Salame on Wednesday "to deliver a protest note over untruths" in his report to the 15-member council.

In a video conference on Monday, Salame raised the alarm over "the increasing frequency of attacks on Mitiga", the Libyan capital's only functioning airport.

"Several of these attacks have come perilously close to hitting civilian aircraft with passengers on board," the envoy stated.

Salame also urged "the authorities in Tripoli to cease using the airport for military purposes and for the attacking forces to halt immediately their targeting of it".

Mitiga has closed several times over the past four months because of a battle for Tripoli between GNA forces and fighters of renegade Libyan general Khalifa Haftar

Heading a group of militias, Haftar launched an offensive on Tripoli on April 4 to wrest control of the capital, but his armed groups failed to breach the southern defenses of the city.

Since then, the fighting has left at least 1,100 people dead, more than 5,750 wounded, and over 100,000 people displaced, according to the United Nations’s World Health Organization (WHO).

SS