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Libya Air Force Halt Militant Advance Near Two Largest Oil Ports

Sputnik News

20:07 13.12.2014(updated 20:43 13.12.2014)

Libya's air force, loyal to the state's recognized government, have attacked militant positions near the two largest oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Es-Sider. Rival forces, which have already captured the huge southern El Sharara oil fields, are planning to take over the two strategic oil ports.

MOSCOW, December 13 (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova – Libya's air force, loyal to the state's recognized authorities, have attacked militants positions near the eastern oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Es-Sider.

'The clashes are part of a wider struggle in the North African country between competing governments allied to armed factions over control of the vast oil reserves, three-and-a-half years after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi,' Reuters reported.

The internal strife in Libya, torn by civil war, has intensified since August 2014, when the self-styled Libya Dawn group expelled the recognized government from the capital and formed its own executive and legislative bodies.

Air Force Commander Saqer al-Joroushi reported that he attacked the positions of insurgents near Sirte, Libya's coastal city. 'We bombed them to stop them from entering the ports,' he said, elaborating that a rival force from Misrata had been heading towards oil terminals 'with a large number of vehicles.'

Ras Lanuf and Es Sider oil ports are the two largest in Libya, exporting more than 300,000 barrels a day. The ports are still working normally according to Libya's oil officials.

Insurgents loyal to the rival government are planning to deal a heavy blow to former army general Khalifa Haftar's forces in order to seize the two strategic oil ports, according to Tarek Eshnaina, a commander of militants.

'We are a third force commissioned by the chief of staff Abdulsalam Jaddallah and commander-in-chief Nouri Abu Sahmain [a head of the rival parliament in Tripoli],' Tarek Eshnaina told Reuters.

'We were about one km from the main gate of Es Sider oil port but we had to withdraw about two kilometers after Haftar's warplanes carried out air strikes which killed two of our members and wounded three. The clashes are sporadic at the moment and we are waiting for supplies from the general chief of staff,' he elaborated.
The media outlet stresses that Libya Dawn has already seized the large El Sharara oil fields in the south.

© Sputnik