File Photo / ReutersAFPTripoli: Libya's unity government has carried out a prisoner exchange with rival eastern forces, releasing a pilot captured during strongman Khalifa Haftar's 2019 assault on Tripoli, local media reported on Monday. According to the reports and images on social media, pilot Amer al-Orfi al-Gajam was exchanged for 15 prisoners held by Haftar's forces, which back a rival government and control much of eastern and southern Libya. Images on social media appeared to show Gajam, a high-ranking member of Haftar's forces, with a long beard and dressed in a traditional Libyan tunic and vest. Haftar's forces later announced that they had lost a MiG-23 due to a "technical fault" and that the pilot had been captured. They made no immediate statement on the reported prisoner exchange.

Source: Libya Today December 26, 2022 17:38 UTC