By Saber Ayyub.
Tripoli, 6 January 2016:
The head of the Libyan armed forces, General Khalifa Hafter, has ordered fighter planes at Benghazi’s . . .[restrict]Benina air force base to move to Ras Lanuf to protect the oil terminals and nearby oil fields from further attacks by the so-called Islamic State (IS).
The order follows an accusation from Ibrahim Jedhran, who heads the central region Petroleum Facilities’ Guards (PFG), that Hafter’s air force did nothing to defend the oil installations at the Ras Lanuf and Sidra terminals when they were attacked by IS yesterday and the day before. He said Hafter and IS were two sides of the same coin.
Seven oil tanks – five in Sidra and two at Ras Lanuf – were set ablaze as fires spread as a result of the initial attacks. The National Oil Corporation has called for international help to put them out.
Aircraft were used to attack IS following the attack, but they are said to have come from Misrata. IS has now threatened it with reprisals because of the air strikes.
The situation at both terminals was this afternoon said to be calm although some missiles were reported to have landed at Sidra in the morning. IS forces have now pulled back to their new base at Ben Jawad, 30 kilometres further west. However, PFG officials have told the Libya Herald that they expect a fresh attack by IS.
It took Ben Jawad at the beginning of the week. A year ago, the town was used as the base for Libya Dawn’s failed assault on Sidra during which three oil tanks were destroyed.
Monday’s attack has been condemned by the government in Beida, the rival administration in Tripoli, the new Presidency Council under Faiez Serraj and UN special envoy Martin Kobler.
Meanwhile there are reports that one of the four suicide attackers who launched the initial attack at Sidra on Monday was a 15-year-old from Tripoli who disappeared four months ago. Yesterday, IS had claimed that all the attackers were Sudanese. The boy, named as Abdulmonem Duelah, is said to have been recruited in Daesh at a local Tripoli mosque and then sent to Sirte.
Last month, Mustafa Sanalla, the NOC chairman recognised by the Tripoli authorities, warned that IS could attack the terminals and oil fields. His fear was that they would do so not to seize and keep them but to destroy them and deny the Libyan state oil income. [/restrict]
