Forces loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) announced on September 8 that their air force had destroyed a BM-21 Grad rocket launcher of the Libyan National Army (LNA) that shelled Mitiga International Airport several times.
The forces released a heavily-edited video showing the airstrikes, which was clearly conducted with a precision-guided munition.
The GNA air force is not operating any warplane that could deliver such a pinpoint strike. However, the GNA’s main backer, Turkey, is known to be operating Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) around the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
The Bayraktar TB2, which was first introduced in 2014, has an endurance of 24 hours. The UCAV can carry up to four precision-guided munitions from the Turkish-made MAM family.
Earlier this week, the LNA lost a rocket launcher of the same type in a similar airstrike.
Such well-planned aerial operations have played a key role in holding the LNA’s advance towards Tripoli’s city center. The army is now holding onto its positions a few kilometers south of the capital.
just couple of pantshirs and the game is over. were are the Russians when their allies need them?or the Egyptians. they are letting Turkey play a significant role as a peripheral power, big mistake. I can understand the Russians not getting involved since they are now friends with Turkey but helping LNA is another thing……and even so were are the Egyptians or Iran? why are they not helping get rid of the puppet GNA government?
Letting Libya continue fighting itself is good for other countries, when conflict finally ends, Libya will be a very weak country & will need lots of foreign investment, so they will be forced to offer *very* favourable terms to investors. Nobody cares about Libya, they just care about the money they can make when the rebuilding starts.
…and the oil……huge quantities of oil…
Libya is strange—France, Russia, Egypt appear to support the LNA, while Turkey, USA appear to support the GNA. Likely the conflict will persist while oil is available for export