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Eastern Libya Administration Threatens Oil Blockade

Caption: FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2011 file photo, a Libyan oil worker, works at a refinery inside the Brega oil complex, in Brega, eastern Libya. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
Caption: FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2011 file photo, a Libyan oil worker, works at a refinery inside the Brega oil complex, in Brega, eastern Libya. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
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Eastern Libya Administration Threatens Oil Blockade

Caption: FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2011 file photo, a Libyan oil worker, works at a refinery inside the Brega oil complex, in Brega, eastern Libya. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
Caption: FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2011 file photo, a Libyan oil worker, works at a refinery inside the Brega oil complex, in Brega, eastern Libya. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

Authorities based in eastern Libya on Saturday threatened to blockade oil exports over the Tripoli government's use of energy revenue, accusing it of wasting billions of dollars without providing real services.

Libya has been locked in a political standoff since last year, when the parliament in eastern Libya rejected the interim Government of National Unity in Tripoli and designated a new administration that has been unable to take over in the capital.

The Government of National Stability, formed in March 2022, is led by Osama Hamada and supported by the House of Representatives and the Libyan National Army, but receives no international recognition.

“If necessary, the Libyan government will raise the red flag and prevent the flow of oil and gas and stop its export by turning to the judiciary and issuing an order declaring force majeure,” the government said.

“We might resort to the Libyan judiciary to appoint a judicial guard over reserved funds,” it added.

In a statement Saturday, the government also urged the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), to “exercise its effective role without bias, and to reveal the public funds unfairly wasted.”

“We hoped that the mission’s briefing to the UN institution on the general situation in Libya, includes facts, without concealing or ignoring what is happening daily in the country,” the statement noted.

The government also accused the National Oil Corporation (NOC) of enabling the “interim” unity government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, of illegally acquiring $16 billion.

Early this year, the Government of National Stability had announced the seizure of Libyan oil revenues for the year 2022 and beyond, which exceeds 130 billion dinars, to prevent corruption. But it clarified that the seizure measures will only affect salaries and public services.

Hamada had announced that his “stability” government would immediately appoint a judicial guard over these funds, to protect public money from systematic and continuous looting.

No official comment was issued by the Oil Corporation or the Dbeibeh government, while Parliament, which supports the parallel "stability" government, remained silent.

In July, Dbeibeh overthrew NOC director Mustafa Sanalla, who was appointed by the Undersecretary of the Oil Ministry of the former “National Salvation Government” of Fayez al-Sarraj in 2014.

Instead, he appointed Farhat Bengdara, as the newly chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh, held on Saturday a meeting in the city of al-Qubah with a delegation from the Bar Association to discuss the latest developments on the outputs of the 6+6 committee, jointly formed with the High Council of State to draft elections laws.

Separately, Italy’s news agency, Nova, said two patrol boats were delivered to Libya in a ceremony in the Sicilian city of Messina in the presence of European Commission officials, the Italian authorities, and the Tripoli-based coastguard.

The delivery is part of the EU executive project “Support to Integrated Border and Migration Management in Libya,” which “aims to strengthen the capacity of relevant Libyan authorities in the areas of border and migration management, including border control and surveillance in the Mediterranean Sea.

 

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UNRWA Says ‘Growing Concerns’ Annexation behind Israeli West Bank Operation

An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
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UNRWA Says ‘Growing Concerns’ Annexation behind Israeli West Bank Operation

An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 04 March 2025. (EPA)

A major offensive in the occupied West Bank which over several weeks has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians and ravaged refugee camps increasingly appears to be part of Israel's "vision of annexation", a UN official told AFP.

Israeli forces carry out regular raids targeting gunmen in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, but the ongoing operation since late January is already the longest in two decades, with dire effects on Palestinians.

"It's an unprecedented situation, both from a humanitarian and wider political perspective," said Roland Friedrich, director of West Bank affairs for UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees.

"We talk about 40,000 people that have been forcibly displaced from their homes" in the northern West Bank, mainly from three refugee camps where the operation had begun, said Friedrich.

"These camps are now largely empty," their residents unable to return and struggling to find shelter elsewhere, he said.

Inside the camps, the level of destruction to "electricity, sewage and water, but also private houses" was "very concerning", Friedrich added.

The Israeli operation, which the military says targets gunmen in the northern West Bank, was launched shortly after a truce took hold in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a separate Palestinian territory.

The operation initially focused on Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, where UNRWA operates, but has since expanded to more areas of the West Bank's north.

Friedrich warned that as the offensive drags on, there are increasing signs -- some backed by official Israeli statements -- that it could morph into permanent military presence in Palestinian cities.

"There are growing concerns that the reality being created on the ground aligns with the vision of annexation of the West Bank," he said.

- 'Political operation' -

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said troops would remain for many months in the evacuated camps to "prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism".

And Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right politician who lives in one of dozens of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, has said that Israel would be "applying sovereignty" over parts of the territory in 2025.

According to Friedrich, "the statements we are hearing indicate that this is a political operation. It is clearly being said that people will not be allowed to return."

Last year the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion saying that Israel's prolonged presence in the West Bank was unlawful.

Away from home, the displaced Palestinian residents also grapple with a worsening financial burden.

"There is an increasing demand now, especially in Jenin, for public shelter, because people can't pay these amounts for rent anymore," said Friedrich.

"Everyone wants to go back to the camps."

The UN official provided examples he said pointed to plans for long-term Israeli presence inside Palestinian cities, which should be under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

"In Tulkarem you have more and more reports about the army just walking around... asking shop owners to keep the shops open, going out and issuing traffic tickets to cars, so almost as if there is no Palestinian Authority," said Friedrich.

"It is very worrying, including for the future of the PA as such and the investments made by the international community into building Palestinian institutions."

The Ramallah-based PA was created in the 1990s as a temporary government that would pave the way to a future sovereign state.

- 'Radicalization' -

UNRWA is the main humanitarian agency for Palestinians, but a recent law bars the agency from working with the Israeli authorities, hindering its badly needed operations.

"It's much more complicated for us now because we can't speak directly to the military anymore," said Friedrich.

"But at the same time, we continue to do our work," he said, assessing needs and coordinating "the actual emergency response on the ground".

Israeli lawmakers had passed the legislation against UNRWA's work over accusations that it had provided cover for Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip -- claims the UN and many donor governments dispute.

The prolonged Israeli operation could have long-term consequences for residents, particularly children traumatized by the experience of displacement, Friedrich warned.

"If people can't go back to the camp and we can't reopen the schools... clearly, that will lead to more radicalization going forward."

He said the situation could compound a legitimacy crisis for the PA, often criticized by armed Palestinian factions for coordinating security matters with Israel.

Displaced Palestinians "feel that they are kicked out of their homes and that nobody is supporting them", said Friedrich.

A "stronger international response" was needed, he added, "both to provide humanitarian aid on the ground, and secondly, to ensure that the situation in the West Bank doesn't spin out of control".