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NOC Warns against Paying Ransom to Reopen Libya’s El Sharara Field

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the El Sharara oilfield, Libya December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the El Sharara oilfield, Libya December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo
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NOC Warns against Paying Ransom to Reopen Libya’s El Sharara Field

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the El Sharara oilfield, Libya December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the El Sharara oilfield, Libya December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo

Chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp. (NOC) Mustafa Sanalla has warned the head of the Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, from paying a ransom to an armed group that has halted crude production at the country's largest oilfield.

"Any attempt to pay a ransom to the group which shut down El Sharara (oilfield) would set a dangerous precedent that would threaten the recovery of the Libyan economy," Sanalla said in a statement.

NOC on Monday declared force majeure on exports from the 315,000-barrels-per-day oilfield after it was seized at the weekend by the group.

Sanalla said Friday he sent a letter to Sarraj, stressing that the NOC will not resume production if the ransom was paid.

He also urged Chief Prosecutor Al-Sadiq al-Sour not to take any such action.

“Rather than paying ransom to militias, the money should be used for investment in the local community and in improving basic services,” he said.

“Any payment made to parties carrying out illegal acts would cause more problems and would encourage them to carry out similar operations, putting the lives of oil workers at risk and increasing violence,” Sanalla added.

He also warned “the Libyan government against falling in the same mistake it had made by paying Ibrahim Jathran huge sums of money.”

Jathran headed an armed group that blockaded oil crescent terminals for three years before being forced out.

The “Fezzan Rage Movement,” which has blocked El Sharara oilfield, has been urging the authorities to provide development funds for their impoverished region.

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Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
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Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen's Capital and Port City after Houthi Attack Targets Israel

A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
A Houthi supporter carries a mock missile during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sana'a, Yemen, 13 December 2024. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

A series of intense Israeli airstrikes shook Yemen's Houthi-held capital and a port city early Thursday and killed at least nine people, officials said, shortly after a Houthi missile targeted central Israel.
Thursday’s strikes risk further escalating conflict with the Iranian-backed Houthis, whose attacks on the Red Sea corridor have drastically impacted global shipping. The militants have so far avoided the same level of intense military strikes that have targeted the Palestinian Hamas militant group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fellow members of Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance.”
The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah said that some of the strikes targeted power stations in the capital, as well as the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. The channel, citing its correspondent in the port city of Hodeidah, said at least seven people had been killed at the nearby port of Salif, while another two had been killed at the Ras Isa oil terminal.
Others suffered wounds at the Hodeidah port as well, it said.
An Israeli military statement offered no specifics on the targets hit, nor any damage assessment.
“The targets struck by the (Israeli military) were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes,” the statement said. “The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the strikes hit energy and port infrastructure, which he alleged the militants “have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action.”
“Israel will not hesitate to act in order to defend itself and its citizens from the Houthi attacks,” Hagari said.
Houthi-held Hodeidah, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sanaa, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decades long war has gone on. There's also longstanding suspicion that weapons from Iran have been transferred through the port.
The strikes happened just after the Israeli military said its air force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered the country’s territory.
“Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling debris from the interception,” the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded near Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas, and a large explosion was heard overhead at the time. The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile attack, but said an important military statement would be issued in the coming hours, following a pattern of how they claim their assaults.
Israel previously struck Hodeidah and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded 10 in Tel Aviv. In September, Israel struck Hodeidah again, killing at least four people after a militant missile targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving back to the country.
American forces have also launched a series of strikes on the Houthis over nearly a year due to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor. On Monday, the US military's Central Command said it hit “a key command-and-control facility" operated by the Houthis in Sanaa, later identified as the al-Ardi complex once home to the government's Defense Ministry.
But Israel appears to have carried out Thursday's strikes alone. A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the attacks, said America had no part in them.
The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel's grinding offensive in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say.
The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate US- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.
The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.