TRIPOLI: Libya's UN-recognised government said Thursday it was back in full control of Tripoli and its suburbs, capping a string of victories against eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar and vowing to take the whole country.

"Our heroic forces have full control of Greater Tripoli right up to the city limits," Mohamad Gnounou, spokesman for the forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA), said in a Facebook post.

The announcement came after GNA forces retook the Tripoli International Airport on Wednesday, after fierce battles more than a year after losing it as Haftar launched an offensive to seize the capital.

The country's main civilian airport, in Tripoli's southern outskirts, had been disused since 2014 when it was heavily damaged in fighting between rival militias.

But it was a key strategic prize on a major highway into the capital.

The unity government's deputy defence minister Salah Namrush said Thursday that GNA forces "are continuing their advance, chasing the terrorist militias from the walls of Tripoli."