Libya’s Haftar launches offensive to retake key oil ports

MANILA / AP

Libya’s eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar launched an assault by land, air and sea on Tuesday to retake two of the country’s key oil terminals, as fighting threatens to escalate in the holder of Africa’s largest crude reserves.
Fighters were deployed near Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, according to three military sources who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the media. Ground troops are now close to the Harouge storage tanks, the people said. The ports were seized from Haftar’s forces earlier this month by a rival group, which later said it handed control to the United Nations-backed government in Tripoli.
More than a year after a UN-mediated peace deal meant to end years of conflict and economic ruin that followed the ousting of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya remains deeply divided, primarily between administrations in the west and east. Killings, kidnapping and smuggling are common. The latest fighting is a setback for political efforts to restore stability and plot an economic recovery. Control of oil assets would provide leverage in future talks on ending Libya’s crisis and have been key focus of competing factions.
Late on Monday, the head of Libya’s Petroleum Facilities Guard, a force affiliated with the UN-backed administration, called for international help to enforce a no-fly zone over the Gulf of Sirte, home to Es Sider, Libya’s largest export terminal for oil.
Force Majeure
Idries Bu Khamada said he has asked the Presidency Council to approach allies. He said seven PFG members were killed on Monday, and a technical workshop in Ras Lanuf was damaged by Haftar’s planes.
“Shelling and bombardment is intensive,” he said by phone late Monday.
If the international community doesn’t intervene, there’s a risk of damage to oil tanks, he said. The media office of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj’s Presidential Council said Haftar had been targeting the oil facilities since on Sunday.
Jadalla Alaokali, a board member at National Oil Corp., said by phone on Tuesday that no damage to oil infrastructure had been reported so far. If fighting worsens, the NOC will have to declare force majeure at ports, he said. Force majeure is a legal status protecting a party from liability if it can’t fulfill a contract for reasons beyond its control.