Libya’s Tripoli government retakes Yarmuk camp

By Hamdi Yildiz

TRIPOLI (AA) - Libya’s Tripoli-based government said Thursday it has recaptured the Yarmuk military camp south of the capital from forces led by Commander Khalifa Haftar.

The al-Sumud front supported the operation, a military source who declined to be named told Anadolu Agency.

Haftar’s forces said earlier Wednesday that they had captured the camp from UN-backed government forces.

The Yarmuk military camp is in the Ain Zara area, which had been witnessing clashes between Haftar’s forces and government forces.

Libya has remained beset by turmoil since 2011, when a bloody NATO-backed uprising led to the ouster and death of President Muammar Gaddafi after four decades in power.

Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of power: one in the eastern city of Al-Bayda, with which Haftar is associated, and another in Tripoli, which enjoys the UN’s support.

*Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur