The first flight in four years landed at Sirte Airport on Saturday after large-scale restoration, and will be open to the public soon,?director of the airport Salah Bojazia said.
The flight carried a delegation from Tripoli’s Mills and Feed Company, who inspected Mills and Feed Company after it has been maintained.
The airport went through the hiatus due to the deteriorating situation in the city at the time.
The airport has undergone maintenance work, including the installation of electrical and telephone cables, as well as cleaning and repairing the main runway.
Bojazia added that work is underway to reopen the airport soon.
Sirte Protection Force cooperated with Sirte’s Municipal Guards to launch security campaigns in December to remove Islamic State (IS) slogans from buildings, spokesman of Sirte’s Demining Brigade told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in December.
In late 2016, IS militants were largely forced out of Sirte by the Government of National Accord forces (GNA) in the cooperation with the U.S.
The GNA requested air-strike support from the U.S., which officially joined the battle on Aug. 1, 2016. These attacks continued until the end of 2016, and by 6 December 2016, IS was finally defeated at Sirte.
The war has left buildings in ruins across the city, and many citizens live in destroyed houses.
Since 2011 uprising, Sirte was one of the main strongholds of IS. In May 2015, IS has seized the airport in the city of Sirte, as the group continued to make advances in the country
