All-out assault mounted to recapture oil terminals in strife-torn Libya
Tripoli — Libya’s eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar launched a land, air and sea assault on Tuesday to retake two oil terminals. As fighting threatened to escalate in the country with Africa’s biggest crude reserves fighters were near Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, according to three military sources. They said troops were near the Harouge storage tanks. A rival group seized the oil ports from Haftar’s forces this month, saying it had handed control to the UN-backed government in Tripoli. More than a year after a UN-mediated peace deal to end years of conflict and economic ruin after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi, 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 economic recovery. Rival factions see control of oil assets as likely to provide leverage in talks on ending Libya’s crisis. Late on Monday, the head...
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