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.

 



Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
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Lebanon Security Source Says Hezbollah Official Targeted in Beirut Strike

Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Civil defense members work as Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut's Basta neighbourhood, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon November 23, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

A Lebanese security source said the target of a deadly Israeli airstrike on central Beirut early Saturday was a senior Hezbollah official, adding it was unclear whether he was killed.

"The Israeli strike on Basta targeted a leading Hezbollah figure," the security official told AFP without naming the figure, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The early morning airstrike has killed at least 15 people and injured 63, according to authorities, and had brought down an eight-storey building nearby, in the second such attack on the working-class neighbourhood of Basta in as many months.

"The strike was so strong it felt like the building was about to fall on our heads," said Samir, 60, who lives with his family in a building facing the one that was hit.

"It felt like they had targeted my house," he said, asking to be identified by only his first name because of security concerns.

There had been no evacuation warning issued by the Israeli military for the Basta area.

After the strike, Samir fled his home in the middle of the night with his wife and two children, aged 14 and just three.

On Saturday morning, dumbstruck residents watched as an excavator cleared the wreckage of the razed building and rescue efforts continued, with nearby buildings also damaged in the attack, AFP journalists reported.

The densely packed district has welcomed people displaced from traditional Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon's east, south and southern Beirut, after Israel intensified its air campaign on September 23, later sending in ground troops.

"We saw two dead people on the ground... The children started crying and their mother cried even more," Samir told AFP, reporting minor damage to his home.

Since last Sunday, four deadly Israeli strikes have hit central Beirut, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.

Residents across the city and its outskirts awoke at 0400 (0200 GMT) on Saturday to loud explosions and the smell of gunpowder in the air.

"It was the first time I've woken up screaming in terror," said Salah, a 35-year-old father of two who lives in the same street as the building that was targeted.

"Words can't express the fear that gripped me," he said.

Saturday's strikes were the second time the Basta district had been targeted since war broke out, after deadly twin strikes early in October hit the area and the Nweiri neighbourhood.

Last month's attacks killed 22 people and had targeted Hezbollah security chief Wafiq Safa, who made it out alive, a source close to the group told AFP.

Salah said his wife and children had been in the northern city of Tripoli, about 70 kilometres away (45 miles), but that he had to stay in the capital because of work.

His family had been due to return this weekend because their school reopens on Monday, but now he has decided against it following the attack.

"I miss them. Every day they ask me: 'Dad, when are we coming home?'" he said.

Lebanon's health ministry says that more than 3,650 people have been killed since October 2023, after Hezbollah initiated exchanges of fire with Israel in solidarity with its Iran-backed ally Hamas over the Gaza war.

However, most of the deaths in Lebanon have been since September this year.

Despite the trauma caused by Saturday's strike, Samir said he and his family had no choice but to return home.

"Where else would I go?" he asked.

"All my relatives and siblings have been displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs and from the south."