Clashes broke out Sunday between armed groups in a western Libyan city, trapping residents in their homes and starting fires at the country’s second-largest oil refinery, officials said.
Local media reported that the fighting in the coastal city of Zawiya, about 47 kilometers (about 30 miles) west of the capital Tripoli, was fought between militants loyal to the Sharafa tribe against the warlord Mohammed kushfaf, according to local media. The UN Security Council had imposed sanctions on koshaf in 2018 for his alleged involvement in human trafficking.
It was not immediately clear why the clashes broke out, but they are not a rare occurrence in western Libya, which is controlled by a group of outlaw militias and armed groups allied to the government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dabaiba.
Oil-rich Libya was divided between rival administrations in the East and the West after the overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi some 14 years ago. The country was plunged into chaos following the so-called revolution of 2011, which turned into a civil war, which overthrew Colonel Gaddafi and was killed in the midst of the chaos, as the wealth of armed militias increased and their strength escalated, especially in Tripoli and the western part of the country.
The recent clashes today led to the closure of a major coastal road connecting Zawiya with other cities in western Libya and the suspension of the study.
Ahmed Abu Hussein, a resident of the city of Zawiya, says : ”many families are trapped in their homes. Bullets are being fired indiscriminately and hitting houses and buildings,” he said, adding that the fighting took place in multiple areas throughout the city, including densely populated neighborhoods, causing panic and terror among civilians.
The clashes also caused ”serious damage“ to storage tanks at the Zawiya oil refinery, the Libyan National Oil Corporation said.
Bullets hit oil tanks, which led to ”serious“ fires, she said, adding that firefighters managed to control the fires and gas leaks as clashes raged around the refinery.
The company, which manages the Libyan oil industry, declared a state of emergency and force majeure, as it put it, a legal maneuver exempting it from its contractual obligations due to exceptional circumstances.
Last August, clashes between heavily armed militias in Tripoli left at least nine people dead and 16 injured.
Libya is currently under the government of debiba in Tripoli and the government of Prime Minister Osama Hamad in the east, allied with the forces of retired military commander Khalifa Haftar.
