On Monday, Libya’s internationally-recognised and UN-backed Government of National Accord captured the strategic air base, al Watiya, from warlord Khalifa Haftar’s militias. 

It is a crucial advance given its key importance as an airbase in the Libyan conflict. Libya has been in an internationalised civil war since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi during the Arab Spring in 2011. It is generally accepted that the current civil war, or Second Libyan Civil War, started in 2014. 

"We proudly announce the liberation of al Watiya air base from criminal militias and terrorist mercenaries," Prime Minister Fayez al Sarraj said on Twitter. 

“Today's victory will not be the end of the battle,” he added. 

“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."

This is what makes al Watiya airbase so crucial: