The Libyan National Army warned against the use of civilian planes to transport weapons to the north African country.
The LNA, commanded by Khalifa Haftar, announced that it had monitored a Boeing 747-412 that had flown from Istanbul to Libya carrying military equipment.
LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari warned other carriers from transporting weapons using civilian planes, adding that “the army will down and strike any plane” that carried weapons.
"The civilian status of aircraft is revoked as soon as they are used for military purposes," he told Reuters.
Mismari also said, in a video released on Sunday, that the LNA was extending an ultimatum it had given fighters in Misrata aligned with the Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli.
They would now have until Wednesday at midnight to withdraw from the city instead of midnight on Sunday.
Withdrawing forces would not be targeted, he said.
Meanwhile, GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj slammed Italy’s criticism of the government’s maritime and security accords with Turkey.
“Do the Italians expect us to stand idly by as our capital is destroyed and our people are killed?” he wondered in an interview with the Italian Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“Libya is a sovereign country and it has the right to sign deals with any party it wants,” he added.
“We are confident of victory and we will ultimately see who has the right to negotiate Libya’s future and who the aggressor is,” he went on to say.
Separately, Interior Minister in the GNA Fathi Bashagha told Bloomberg that the government had appealed for assistance from several countries, including the United States.
“The Government of National Accord has an obligation to defend Tripoli’s residents,” he said.
Bashagha said his government wishes for good relations with the Arab regional powers. “We are keen on cooperating with Egypt, but we won’t allow Haftar to rule by force,” he said.
