Libya's GNA Retakes Strategic Airbase, Haftar Loses More Ground

Libya's Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) said Monday it has recaptured the strategical-Watiya airbase - near the Tunisian border - from the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) under military commander Khalifa Haftar.

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"We proudly announce the liberation of al-Watiya airbase from criminal militias and terrorist mercenaries," Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj's administration wrote on Twitter. 

"Today's victory will not be the end of the battle. Instead, it brings us closer to the big victory day, the day all cities and territories of Libya are free from the project of hegemony and repression."

The announcement by the United Nations-backed GNA came after a month-long counteroffensive that has seen its forces drive Haftar's troops out of much of Libya's western coast. 

Located 125km from the capital, the al-Watiya airbase has been an important strategic foothold for Haftar's forces. Its capture by the GNA represents a considerable loss for the eastern commander.

"It's a major development because it really alters the way in which Haftar can continue his offensive on Tripoli, the way he can use logistics to supply his troops, to provide them munitions and provide them a platform to circumvent the GNA's troops," director of the Sadeq Institute think-tank, Anas el Gomati, told Al Jazeera.

"This frees up the GNA troops' capacity now, to move down towards the south of Tripoli, towards Tarhuna, which is the last line of Haftar's offensive. It signifies that Haftar's forces are on the retreat," he added.

Haftar's LNA, which is backed by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), France, and Russia, has been fighting off a year-long offensive over Tripoli.

There was no immediate comment from the LNA, though sources confirmed to Reuters that they had withdrawn after the base had come under intensive bombardment.

From 2014 and on, Libya has had two political power centers, the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, and another government in Tobruk, an eastern city which has remained under Haftar's control.

The North-African nation, which has significant oil reserves, had been under foreign rule for centuries and gained independence in 1951. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi seized power in 1969 and ruled the country for four decades until he was ousted in 2011 by Western military intervention.