Day-long fighting near Tripoli’s airport road

By Libya Herald reporters.

Tripoli, 21 August 2014:

Fierce militia fighting in Tripoli which began this morning at around 9.30 died down at . . .[restrict]around four in the afternoon. Most of the activity appears to have been in the Hay Akwakh district where there are unconfirmed reports that Dawn forces used tanks and self-propelled howitzers.

This evening both sides were claiming that they were in control of the area, which lies just off the Airport Road. This part of the city has no military facilities and consists largely of multi-storey buildings, some up to eleven floors high. It has been claimed that up to 90 percent of the locals have already fled their homes, because of past fighting.

Both Zintani and Dawn forces are saying tonight that they are in control of Hay Akwakh. It has not been possible to contact any locals to obtain clearer information, not least on the destruction that has been caused, [/restrict]