| | | Date: Jun 18, 2018 | | Source: The Daily Star | | |  |  |
| | Haftar’s forces push against militias in Libya oil crescent | Agence France Presse
BENGHAZI, Libya: The self-styled Libyan National Army loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar announced Sunday a “major offensive” to drive rival groups from the country’s northeastern oil crescent.
Armed groups Thursday attacked the Ras Lanouf and Sidra terminals held by Haftar’s forces around 650 kilometers east of Tripoli.
“We have launched a major offensive supported by the army and air force to drive out the militias of [Ibrahim] Jadhran and his allies,” LNA spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari told AFP.
Jadhran’s Petroleum Facilities Guard controlled the terminals for years following the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, but were eventually forced out by the LNA.
The LNA controls most of eastern Libya and is opposed to an internationally recognized government based in Tripoli, which has itself condemned Thursday’s militia attacks.
Jadhran said in a video Thursday that he had formed an alliance to retake oil terminals seized by Haftar’s forces in September 2016.
The LNA’s air force Sunday told residents in the oil crescent to stay away from “areas where the enemy gathers, munition stores and sites with military vehicles.”
“Fighter [planes] are carrying out raids against terrorist positions and gatherings in the operational military zone stretching from Ras Lanouf to the edge of the city of Sirte,” the air force wrote on its Facebook page.
The Red Crescent in Ajdabiya, 150 kilometers east of Ras Lanouf, said it received 28 bodies Friday, without specifying to which group they belonged.
The NOC said Saturday that a storage tank had been “significantly damaged” due to the armed incursions into Ras Lanouf and Sidra.
It called for the “immediate and unconditional surrender” of Jadhran’s militia to “prevent an environmental disaster and further destruction of key infrastructure.”
The National Oil Corporation said Thursday that it had halted oil exports from both Ras Lanouf and Sidra because of the violence.
NOC chief Mustafa Sanallah warned that if oil exports from these terminals remain at a standstill it could cause a “national disaster.”
The oil firm also had warned that output could fall by up to 400,000 barrels per day if the export shutdown continues.
Libya’s economy relies heavily on oil, with production at 1.6 million barrels per day under Gadhafi.
The 2011 uprising that ousted and killed the Libyan dictator saw production fall to about 20 percent of that level, before recovering to over 1 million barrels per day by the end of 2017. |
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