Islamist faction in Libya repairs Russian-made MIGs, conducts first airstrike

Russian-made MIGs from deposed Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi were used by an Islamist faction vying for control of the nation’s affairs.

A spokesman for the Libya Dawn coalition said Tuesday that “two or three” jets were used to attack an airstrip occupied by a rival militia in the town of Zintan, The New York Times reported.

“This may well upend the U.N.’s mediation efforts,” said Wolfram Lacher, a Libya researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, the newspaper reported.

The airport authority in Zintan confirmed that a strike did occur, which “created panic among the passengers and families” of a civilian flight that was about to take off, The New York Times reported.

Operation Dignity, the militia targeted by the Islamist airstrike, has the backing of Libya’s internationally recognized government, which has struggled to assert its control since the U.S.-led coalition’s outster of Gadhafi in 2011.