Libyan National Army steps up bombing of militia positions at key oil ports

At least one helicopter gunship was filmed firing rockets at militia positions south-east of the Ras Lanuf port, during what appears to be the heaviest of daily bombings on the Benghazi Defence Brigades since they captured Ras Lanuf and the port of Sidra on March 3.

Pipelines at Libya's Ras Lanuf oil port pictured on January 11, 2017. Esam Omran Al Fetori / File Photo / Reuters

Heavy air strikes hit militias holding two central Libyan oil ports on Monday as the Libyan National Army pressed a counter-offensive to recapture them.

Eyewitnesses near the ports of Sidra and Ras Lanuf said planes dropped bombs and rockets on positions held by the Benghazi Defence Brigades which seized them from the army on March 3.

At least one helicopter gunship was filmed firing rockets at Brigades positions south-east of the Ras Lanuf port, along a desert front line facing army positions, during what appears to be the heaviest of daily bombings on the militias since they captured the ports.

Additional night strikes were reported in the early hours of Monday, with fixed-wing jets targeting supply bases belonging to the Brigades further east, near the town of Ben Jawad on Libya’s main coastal road.

The fighting is the most serious military confrontation so far between the army, the main force of Libya’s elected parliament, the House of Representatives, and fighters supporting the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), a rival administration in Tripoli.

Idris Bukhamada, the commander of the GNA’s Petroleum Facilities Guard, which took over control of Sidra and Ras Lanuf from the Benghazi Defence Brigades last week, said the army strikes hit oil installations at the ports. The army denied this, however.

Eyewitnesses appeared to back army accounts, reporting that the bombing seemed to target the militias in residential blocks outside both ports, and in the town of Ras Lanuf, rather than the ports themselves.

Libya’s National Oil Corporation closed the ports on March 4 and two tankers that were supposed to have docked at Sidra last week were diverted to other oil ports. Oil production has since fallen from 700,000 barrels per day to 620,000, the National Oil Corporation stated on Friday.

East of the ports, Libyan National Army commander Field Marshal Khaifa Haftar has assembled a powerful ground force of 5,000 troops from brigades across much of eastern Libya. This force appears to be waiting before launching a promised ground assault on the ports, which was given its blessing on Thursday last week by a meeting of eastern and some western tribal leaders in Benghazi.

Meanwhile in Tripoli, Government of National Accord defence minister Al Mahdi Al Barghathi called for ambulances to bring wounded fighters – presumably those aligned with the UN-backed administration – west from the battle. The Benghazi Defence Brigades have given no casualty figures for the fighting so far while Libyan media reports say more than 40 army soldiers have died.

The chief of the United Nations Support Mission for Libya, Martin Kobler, met delegates from the House of Representatives in Tripoli on Friday, seeking consensus on the Libya Political Agreement, a power sharing plan which the House of Representatives has so far not signed.

“I urge House of Representatives members to rally behind the LPA and nominate their delegation for political talks,” the German diplomat tweeted after the meeting. “Libya cannot wait!”

The political agreement would see the Government of National Accord become Libya’s legitimate government while the House of Representatives would form the legislature – a deal the UN mission says could bring peace to Libya.

Attitudes are hardening on all sides, however, after the House of Representatives last week announced it was pulling out of the Libya Political Agreement talks process.