BENGHAZI: Suspected Daesh militants attacked oil installations close to Libya’s Ras Lanuf terminal on Thursday, an engineer at the port and energy officials said, and the group threatened more attacks.
The engineer said two storage tanks from the Harouge Oil Operations company had been set on fire near Ras Lanuf, where militants also launched attacks earlier this month.
Daesg fighter Abu Abdelrahman Al-Liby said in a video posted on the group’s official Telegram channel: “Today Es Sider port and Ras Lanuf and tomorrow the port of Brega and after the ports of Tobruk, Es Serir, Jallo, and Al-Kufra.”
The state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC) said the area was facing an “environmental catastrophe,” with huge columns of smoke covering the area and damage to power lines supplying residential and industrial districts.
An energy official allied with Libya’s eastern-based government, Mohamed Al-Manfi, said a pipeline leading from the Amal oil field to the Es Sider terminal had been targeted. There were clashes between militants and Petroleum Facilities Guards, but Manfi and a guards source later said these had stopped and the militants had retreated.
Libya oil installations hit
Libya oil installations hit
Arab and Islamic states reject Israel’s recognition of Somaliland
- Israel formally recognized Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state” on Friday
- Saudi Arabia on Friday expressed full support for sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity of Somalia
A group of foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries, alongside the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), have firmly rejected Israel’s announcement of its recognition of the Somaliland region within Somalia.
In a joint statement issued on Saturday, the ministers condemned Israel’s decision, announced on December 26, warning that the move carries “serious repercussions for peace and security in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region” and undermines international peace and security, the Jordan News Agency reported.
The statement described the recognition as an unprecedented and flagrant violation of international law and the charter of the United Nations, which uphold the principles of state sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, JNA added.
Israel formally recognized Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state” and signed an agreement to establish diplomatic ties, as the region’s leader hailed its first-ever official recognition.
The ministers reaffirmed their full support for the sovereignty of Somalia, rejecting any measures that would undermine its unity or territorial integrity.
They warned that recognizing the independence of parts of states sets a dangerous precedent and poses a direct threat to international peace and security.
The statement also reiterated categorical opposition to any attempt to link the move with plans to displace the Palestinian people outside their land, stressing that such proposals are rejected “in form and substance.”
Alongside the Jordanian foreign ministry, the joint statement was issued by the foreign ministers of Egypt, Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, The Gambia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Turkiye and Yemen, as well as the OIC.
Saudi Arabia on Friday expressed full support for the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Somalia, and expressed its rejection of the declaration of mutual recognition between Israel and Somaliland.
