Tripoli - (AFP) - The security authorities of the Libyan government, based in Tripoli, on Monday released the pilot, Amer al-Qajm, of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's forces, as part of a prisoner exchange deal.

And local media reported that Major General Pilot Amer Al-Qajm was released as part of a prisoner exchange deal, according to which 15 prisoners who were being held by Haftar's forces were released.

The exchange took place in the town of Al-Shwerf, near the municipality of Al-Jafra, 650 km west of Tripoli, which is the dividing line between the forces of western Libya and Haftar's forces.

Haftar's forces did not officially announce the handover of Major General Al-Qajm, who was arrested in December 2019, when his plane crashed while carrying out air strikes in the vicinity of Tripoli, during the military operation that was aimed at controlling the capital and ended in failure in June 2020.

The pilot was captured after his Russian MiG-23 plane crashed in the city of Zawiya, 40 km west of Tripoli, and a video clip was published showing him being held in a security headquarters of the former Government of National Accord.

Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, Libya has suffered from divisions and political conflict, and two governments are competing for power: one based in Tripoli headed by Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba since the beginning of 2021, and another headed by Fathi Bashagha, appointed by the House of Representatives last March and supported by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.