TRIPOLI: Tunisia and Egypt’s Cairo airport halted most flights to and from Libya on Thursday for security reasons, officials said, days after the Libyan government said unidentified war planes had attacked positions of armed groups in Tripoli.

Flights from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya had been operating on an almost daily basis until now, a vital link to the outside for Libyans and foreigners alike as fighting between rival factions in the capital escalated.

Libya has used the small Matiga airport in Tripoli for civilian traffic since the main airport was turned into a battlefield last month. The tower, runway and at least 20 aircraft have been damaged, officials have said.

When flying into Matiga, passengers can sometimes see smoke rising from battles in and around the main airport. Rebel groups who united to topple Muammar Qadhafi in 2011 have since turned on each other, spreading anarchy in oil-producing Libya and raising fears it may become a failed state.

In Tripoli two factions, one from the city of Zintan and the other from Misrata, have been fighting each other for control of the city for over a month.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2014