- Brigades from Zintan have controlled the airport since 2011
- Armed vehicles amassed in the area overnight
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Rival Libyan militias battled for Tripoli International Airport overnight and into Sunday, with the sounds of gunfire and blasts echoing across the area.
Brigades from Zintan have controlled the airport since 2011.
Armed vehicles amassed in the area overnight before fighting broke out around dawn, witnesses said.
"The revolutionary brigades are inside Tripoli International Airport," the Libyan Revolutionaries Operations Room, an Islamist militia in the capital, posted on its Facebook page.
Shortly before that, the group said it was in the vicinity.
"The revolutionary forces have reached the perimeter of Tripoli International Airport ... clashes with some of the armed groups present there," it said.
Tripoli militias have sought to seize the airport from Zintan for years.
In recent days, local media have said the revolutionaries and other groups were preparing to launch a "Libya Dawn" operation to push out criminal groups from vital locations in the capital.
