Strike on Tripoli harbor

Several photos and videos on different social networks showing a tall column of black smoke getting up from the port of Tripoli.

The Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Khalifa Haftar, has said their forces targeted a Turkish cargo vessel that carried ammunition and weapons to the embattled port of Tripoli, where the United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) is based.

“The Turkish ship loaded with weapons and ammunition that docked this morning at the port of Tripoli was destroyed,” read a short statement published by an LNA Facebook account on Feb. 18. The statement did not elaborate on the attack.

From the images we have, the smoke seems to rise directly from the pier and not from a ship that actually stops nearby.

It should be remembered that a ship of the Italian navy stops in the port of Tripoli (a ship of the “Gorgona” class) but is located in the area of the military port, on the opposite side of the basin compared to where the fire broke out.