TRIPOLI: ISIS has seized control of the airport in the city of Sirte after forces of a Tripoli-based Libyan government withdrew, a spokesman said Friday.

Mohamed al-Shami, whose government is not recognized by the international community, said its forces pulled out late Thursday from the airport which had “fallen into the hands of the ISIS organization.”

He said the forces had pulled out of the airport, which is also a military base called Gardabiya, to redeploy “as part of an operation to secure” areas to the east and west of Sirte.

It was the first time ISIS in Libya has recorded such a military gain.

“After they left, ISIS fighters entered the base which had been completely emptied of equipment, except for one military plane which is out of use,” Shami said.

Gardabiya lies 20 km south of Sirte, hometown of late dictator Moammar Gadhafi who was ousted and killed in Libya’s 2011 uprising.

ISIS itself said it took full control of the airport following clashes with forces loyal to the Tripoli government, in a message posted on Twitter.

Officials in Tripoli said ISIS had allied with supporters of the ousted Gadhafi regime to deploy across Sirte, a region which has oil fields.

Sirte has been the scene of several months of sporadic fighting between ISIS and the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) militia alliance tasked by the Tripoli government with securing the city.

Shami said the pro-Tripoli forces would launch a counteroffensive to retake the airport once reinforcements arrived.

The city of Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli, has turned into a bastion of Islamist extremist groups.

Since Gadhafi was toppled, chaos has gripped Libya, with battle-hardened former rebel groups armed with heavy weapons carving out their own fiefdoms. Fajr Libya seized control of Tripoli last year and set up a government and parliament opposed to the administration recognized by the international community that has taken refuge in the country’s far east near the border with Egypt.

ISIS jihadis have exploited the chaos to gain ground, especially around Sirte, where they first emerged in February.