MILAN/TRIPOLI: Libya said yesterday the army had restored order at an energy complex near Tripoli after weekend clashes between militia guards, but that gas exports to Italy would remain suspended and oil production cut back for several days.
Libyan officials said the national army and militias aligned with it had arrived at the Mellitah oil and gas complex, some 100 km west of Tripoli, on Sunday night. The locally deployed militias had ceased fighting but gas exports had been suspended yesterday for a third day.
“We have full control, it is safe, it is just a matter of assessing the situation to identify the one entity that will take charge of the security,” said Abdulfattah Shagan, chairman of the Mellitah oil and gas venture between Libya’s National Oil Corporation and Italy’s Eni. “I think the army will be in charge,” he said adding that the fighting has done only minor damage to facilities.
Armed clashes erupted on Saturday after an argument between former rebel fighters from nearby Zuwara and others from Zintan over who should guard Mellitah, security officials said. Deputy Oil Minister Omar Shakmak said one person was killed and several injured.
The disruption at the Mellitah complex is the latest to hit the energy sector in Libya, where protests have shut down oil-export terminals in recent months, and comes after January’s hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant.
Thousands of former rebels who fought to overthrow former leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011 have been employed in a protection force to look after Libyan oil and gas installations. Rivalries between militia and clan groups have posed a broader problem for Tripoli as it struggles to assert central control.
Libyan Army restores order at gas complex
Libyan Army restores order at gas complex
Katz orders West Bank raid after deadly attack in Israel
- Friday’s stabbing and car-ramming attack in northern Israel triggered the minister’s action
JERUSALEM: Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday ordered the military to launch an operation in the village of Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank after it emerged that a Palestinian who killed two people came from there.
The minister instructed the Israeli forces to “act forcefully and immediately against the village of Qabatiya, from which the murderous terrorist emerged, in order to locate and thwart every terrorist and strike the village’s terror infrastructure,” Katz’s office said in a statement.
“Anyone who aids terrorism or sponsors and backs it will pay the full price,” it added.
BACKGROUND
Friday’s attack comes just days after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the Qabatiya area.
The military said in a separate statement that it was preparing to begin an operation in Qabatiya in the northern West Bank, which has seen repeated violent incidents.
Friday’s stabbing and car-ramming attack in northern Israel triggered the minister’s action.
The assault came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man in the West Bank, where violence has surged since the war in Gaza began.
“Preliminary investigation indicates this was a rolling terror attack that began in the city of Beit Shean, where a pedestrian was run over,” Israeli police said in a statement about Friday’s attack, adding that the victim was a 68-year-old man.
“Later, a young woman was stabbed near Road 71, and the suspect was ultimately engaged with gunfire near Maonot Junction in Afula following intervention by a civilian bystander,” it said, adding that the attacker was taken to hospital.
Both victims succumbed to the injuries, Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency services said in a statement.
MDA also reported that a 16-year-old was slightly injured when “hit by a vehicle.
The Israeli military said the attacker had “infiltrated into Israeli territory several days ago.”
President Isaac Herzog condemned the attack.
Friday’s attack comes just days after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the Qabatiya area.
The military has launched an investigation into the incident after footage emerged showing the teenager not posing any threat or throwing anything at soldiers who shot him.
The attack on Friday also came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man in the
West Bank.
In videos on social media purporting to show that incident, the victim is seen praying by the roadside when the soldier rams him with his vehicle.
