General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army claims to have shot down a military airplane belonging to the Tripoli-based government of national accord (GNA) that took off from Misrata.LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari told reporters about the incident during a press briefing on Wednesday. He did not specify the type of the plane, just that it had taken off from the GNA-controlled Misrata and was shot down over Tripoli.Unconfirmed reports indicate it was an Aero L-39 Albatros, a Czech-made training jet often used in a ground attack role.As LNA troops advanced, the remaining US forces in Libya pulled out from Tripoli. There were conflicting reports of checkpoints taken and lost, as well as air strikes by both sides in the area.Once the most prosperous country in Africa, Libya lapsed into chaos and civil war in 2011, when NATO backed Islamist rebels in overthrowing and brutally murdering the country's long-time ruler, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. </s> LIBYA – The Libyan National Army (LNA) captured 29-year-old Jimmy Reiss, a Portuguese mercenary pilot, who was flying a Mirage F1 warplane of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) before it was shot down by LNA this morning.

Here is footage of the early moments in which the Libyan National Army (LNA) shot down a Mirage F1 warplane of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) this morning.

Footage showing soldiers of the Libyan National Army (LNA) arresting the 29-year-old Portuguese pilot of a Mirage F1 warplane of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), which LNA shot down this morning in Tripoli.

Early footage of wreckage of a Mirage F1 warplane of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), which the Libyan National Army (LNA) shot down this morning in Tripoli. </s> General Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army claims to have shot down a military airplane belonging to the Tripoli-based government of national accord (GNA) that took off from Misrata.

LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari told reporters about the incident during a press briefing on Wednesday. He did not specify the type of the plane, just that it had taken off from the GNA-controlled Misrata and was shot down over Tripoli.

Unconfirmed reports indicate it was an Aero L-39 Albatros, a Czech-made training jet often used in a ground attack role.

Haftar’s forces control almost 80 percent of Libya, and last week moved against militias supporting the GNA in the west of the country, calling them “illegal armed groups.”

As LNA troops advanced, the remaining US forces in Libya pulled out from Tripoli. There were conflicting reports of checkpoints taken and lost, as well as air strikes by both sides in the area.

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Clashes have resulted in the cancellation of a UN-sponsored peace conference, which sought to negotiate a power-sharing arrangement between the LNA and the internationally recognized GNA of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, which controls less than 8 percent of Libya’s territory.

Once the most prosperous country in Africa, Libya lapsed into chaos and civil war in 2011, when NATO backed Islamist rebels in overthrowing and brutally murdering the country’s long-time ruler, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Like this story? Share it with a friend! </s> The Libyan National Army (LNA) said the military plane they had shot down in southern Tripoli belonged to the EU’s Operation Sophia and that they will immediately return its foreign Portuguese pilot.

The LNA said that initial information proved that the plane was a European surveillance plane used to monitor the illegal migrant smuggling routes in the Mediterranean.

“We will deliver the Portuguese pilot to his country immediately after the treatment of his wounds and we appreciate the work of our European brothers in the fight against illegal immigration,” LNA spokesperson Ahmed Mismari said in a statement.

“We care about the safety of the Portuguese pilot and treat him as a guest rather than a prisoner. What happened was a mistake as a result of the state of war we are going through, and we will hand him over to the European Sofia operation immediately,” Mismari added.

The LNA forces of military commander Khalifa Haftar said they had shot down a military plane in the southern district of al-Hira on Saturday.

Earlier, there were conflicting reports regarding the pilot’s nationality, with some claiming he was an Italian. But in a video seen by Al Arabiya English, the pilot, appearing with a head injury, identified himself by name and said he is from Portugal.

In early April, Haftar, who commands forces loyal to a rival government based in eastern Libya, launched a wide-ranging campaign to capture Tripoli, where the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) is headquartered. </s> According to reports, the plane was shot down in the area of Al-Hir, south of Tripoli. The LNA's forces have previously destroyed GNA aircraft, as well as planes belonging to group allied to it.

On 4 April, the Libyan National Army's (LNA) launched an offensive on Tripoli, which is controlled by the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). Two days later the GNA announced a counteroffensive dubbed "Volcano of Rage".

More than 430 people have been killed and more than 2,000 have been injured since the beginning of the offensive on Tripoli, according to the World Health Organisation. </s> A Libyan pro-regime fighter with the Government of National Accord (GNA) fires at Islamic State jihadists during clashes for control of Sirte, on September 3, 2016. By Mahmud Turkia (AFP/File)

Tripoli (AFP) - Forces loyal to Libya's unity government said Monday at least 80 jihadists were killed at the weekend in the city of Sirte, a former stronghold of the Islamic State group.

"Commanders of front line units have counted at least corpses (of jihadists) killed as they tried in vain to attack behind the lines" of the loyalists, said the media office of forces loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA).

It said in a statement sent to AFP that the bodies of another 25 jihadists were found in alleyways of the battleground coastal city.

The pro-GNA forces, who reported eight soldiers killed and 57 wounded on Sunday, said vehicles, arms and ammunition were seized in the latest round of an assault launched on May 12 and executed in phases to recapture Sirte from IS.

A Dutch journalist covering the clashes in Sirte, Jeroen Oerlemans who worked for the Belgian weekly Knack, was shot dead on Sunday.

Oerlemans became the second journalist killed in the fighting in Sirte after Abdelqader Fsouk, a Libyan who died in July.

On Saturday, GNA aircraft conducted six sorties in preparation for another advance on the jihadists' last hideouts in the city's east.

American aircraft have also carried out 177 air strikes since August 1 in support of GNA forces, according to US Africa Command (AFRICOM).

The fighting has left more than 450 GNA fighters dead and 2,500 wounded. The IS death toll is not known. </s> TUNIS — A Libyan warplane made an emergency landing on a road in the southern Tunisian town of Beni Khadash on Monday and its pilot has been detained, according to Tunisia’s state news agency TAP.

The Tunisian Ministry of Defence said the pilot informed the authorities that he was forced to make the landing due to damage to his plane.

Tunisia’s air force prepared to intercept the L-39 warplane but it landed before it could be reached, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Forces allied to the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) denied the warplane was one of theirs.

Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which is allied to a rival administration in eastern Libya and which mounted an offensive on Tripoli in early April, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Witnesses said the plane had landed on a road and been surrounded by civilian vehicles stopping to watch. (Reporting By Tarek Amara;additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) </s> Troops loyal to Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar claimed to have shot down a fighter jet being flown by a Portuguese mercenary near the capital Tripoli.

The Mirage F1, which they said belonged to the rival Unity Government, was downed in Al-Hira region, 50 miles (70km) south of the capital, Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army said on its Facebook page Tuesday.

The Libyan National Army paraded the pilot for the cameras and took a video in which he identifies himself as Jimmy Reis and says he is 29 years old.

Video showed the pilot looking groggy and wearing a blood-soaked T-shirt and khaki jacket, being questioned in English.

Asked what he was doing in Libya, he said: "I was requested to destroy roads and bridges".

Asked who sent him, he said it was a civilian contract with someone called Hadi but he did not know his full name.

In Lisbon, the Portuguese Defence Ministry and they could not confirm the pilot's nationality.

"For now the only thing we can say is that he is not a Portuguese soldier," a ministry spokeswoman told Reuters.

One image circulating online showed a bloodied man in combat fatigues sitting in a chair surrounded by soldiers with a wound on his head.

Another showed him sitting shirtless in a chair with a tattoo on his chest.

An LNA commander, Abdulsalam al-Hassi, was seen standing behind him in a third picture.

In a second video the man is asked in English by an LNA fighter in the back of a pickup truck whether he was a soldier. 'No, I am a civilian,' he says.

It was not immediately clear how the pilot came to be in Libya and who he was flying for when he was shot down.

One LNA spokesman told Turkey's Anadolu news agency that the pilot was a mercenary flying for the Government of National Accord, the UN-recognised force which is fighting the LNA.

But another spokesman told Saudi Arabia's Al Arabiya that the pilot was working for the EU's Operation Sofia, tackling people smuggling in the Mediterranean.

The spokesman said the jet had been shot down 'by mistake' and promised to 'deliver the pilot to his country immediately after the treatment of his wounds.'

Portugal's National Defence and Foreign Affairs ministry said it was aware of the case and investigating, but gave no more information.

The GNA had not given a statement at the time of publication, nor had EUNAVFOR MED, which orchestrates EU operations in the Mediterranean.

Portuguese paper Diario de Noticias quoted a spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces saying that it was 'impossible' the pilot was from the EU.

'At this time there are no Air Force maritime surveillance aircraft on a mission in the Mediterranean,' commander Coleho Dias said.

If the pilot does turn out to be a mercenary, it would not be the first time a Portuguese pilot has been killed fighting for the GNA.

In June 2016, a Portuguese mercenary flying the air force's only Mirage jet crashed near the city of Sirte after suffering mechanical problems.

The man ejected, but died of his injuries.

Khalifa Haftar leads the Libyan National Army, formed of members of the country's former army and air force which back a government in the eastern city of Damascus.

In April, Haftar launched an offensive on Tripoli in an attempt to take control of the whole of the country, which has been riven with sectarian violence since Muammar Gaddafi was killed in 2011.

The almost five-week-old battle on the southern outskirts of Tripoli has killed at least 432 people, wounded 2,069 and displaced some 55,000 others, according to the UN.

After initial advances for the LNA, its rivals have launched a counter-offensive, leading to a stalemate on the ground.

The two sides often accuse each of resorting to the use of foreign mercenaries and outside military assistance.

Libya has been mired in chaos since the ouster and killing of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with Haftar supporting a rival administration in the east of the country. </s> Fathi Nasri, AFP |A Libyan L-39 Albatros warplane belonging to forces of strongman Khalifa Haftar, after it made an emergency landing in the southeastern Tunisian town of Medenine on July 22, 2019

Libyan authorities say an airstrike hit a field hospital south of the capital, Tripoli, killing at least four doctors and a paramedic.

A spokesman for the health ministry of the UN-supported government of Libya, says the attack took place late Saturday in the Zawya district.

Forces based in the country's east are currently fighting for control of the capital's southern outskirts against militias allied with the Tripoli-based government.

The government blamed the airstrike on the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), led by commander Khalifa Haftar. The LNA could not immediately be reached for comment.

The government in Tripoli has weathered the initial onslaught and since then fighting has remained deadlocked on the outskirts of the city, with both sides resorting to air strikes.

"The field hospital located on the airport road (south of Tripoli) was hit by an air raid. Five doctors were killed and seven other people, including rescuers, wounded," health ministry spokesman Lamine al-Hashemi said.

The strike occurred on Saturday and was carried out by "a Haftar warplane", he said.

"It was a direct hit against the hospital which was packed with medical teams," Hashemi added.

The attack was the third to target a hospital south of the capital.

On July 16 three doctors and a paramedic were wounded in a strike on the Swani hospital near the capital, the second time it was targeted.

The World Health Organisation and rights groups have repeatedly called on both sides in the conflict to spare medical personnel, clinics and hospitals.

The fighting since April has left nearly 1,100 people dead and wounded more than 5,750, according to the WHO. More than 100,000 civilians have fled their homes.

Haftar's LNA began its offensive on Tripoli in early April, but the battle lines have changed little in recent weeks.
The Libyan National Army says it has shot down a pro-GNA L-39 Albatros over Tripoli.