Libya Reopens Sabha Airport Closed Since 2014 (Photos)

Nawal Sayed

Sabha Airport in Libya Received its first commercial flight on Friday coming from Benina Airport located in Benghazi after more than five years of closure.

The Libyan Airlines have resumed flights from and to Sabha which had been closed for years owning to chaos and turmoil that the African country has witnessed.

Sabha International Airport

The airport located in the southern city of Sabha had been closed since Jan. 2014 due to security issues in Libya.

Sabha International Airport

The town of Murzuq, west of Sabha, has seen at least 90 people killed and 6,500 displaced since fighting broke out in August between rival clans, the United Nations said.

Sabha International Airport

On Aug. 10, a car bomb in the eastern Libya city of Benghazi killed two U.N. staff, several medical sources said.

A Reuters reporter at a Benghazi hospital saw a list of names of those killed identifying them as working for the United Nations Libya mission (UNSMIL).

UNSMIL spokesman Jean El Alam did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails.

Moreover, internationally recognized government, which is facing a campaign by eastern troops to take the capital, has accepted a United Nations proposal for a ceasefire during the Eid al-Adha religious holiday.

It was not clear whether fighting over the capital would actually cease after four months of battle that has displaced more than 105,000 people, according to the United Nations.

The U.N. mission (UNSMIL) earlier called on the Tripoli government and the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) to allow a ceasefire during the Eid holiday which started on Saturday and ended on Tuesday.

The ceasefire also included a ban on air strikes, the Tripol-based government said in a statement, citing humanitarian grounds for the move.

There was no immediate comment from the LNA, which started in April a surprise attack on Tripoli which has not made it beyond the southern suburbs.

UNSMIL will be responsible for monitoring any violations, the Tripoli government said.