Libya: Oil Crescent Residents Renew Threats to Shut Oil Ports

A view shows El Feel oil field near Murzuq, Libya, July 6, 2017. (Reuters)
A view shows El Feel oil field near Murzuq, Libya, July 6, 2017. (Reuters)
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Libya: Oil Crescent Residents Renew Threats to Shut Oil Ports

A view shows El Feel oil field near Murzuq, Libya, July 6, 2017. (Reuters)
A view shows El Feel oil field near Murzuq, Libya, July 6, 2017. (Reuters)

The residents of the Oil Crescent Region threatened to shut down oil ports and block exports in protest of the “continued support” of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to the government chaired by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.

A statement by the residents said that if the UN mission continues to support the Government of National Unity (GNU), they will shut down oil exports.

The locals called on the international community to support and recognize the new government assigned by the House of Representatives (HoR) and headed by Fathi Bashagha.

They said that this would end the division and stop wasting public money caused by the previous government.

The statement signed by the residents reiterated that the solution to the political crisis in Libya is through presidential, parliamentary elections, based on a constitution that ends the transitional stage since 2011.

The Oil Crescent area is about 500 km east of Tripoli and contains the largest oil reserves and the three largest oil shipping ports, namely Brega, Zueitina, Ras Lanuf, and al-Sidra.

Meanwhile, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Chairman held talks in Washington with the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Joey Hood.

According to the US State Department, the two reiterated the importance of uninterrupted NOC operations for the benefit of all Libyans.

“Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Joey Hood met with Chairman Mustafa Sanalla to underline US support for the independence of National Oil Corporation. They agreed on the need to invest in renewables and the importance of uninterrupted NOC operations for the benefit of all Libyans,” reported the State Department.



Hamas Official Says Group ‘Appreciates’ Lebanon’s Right to Reach Agreement

 A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
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Hamas Official Says Group ‘Appreciates’ Lebanon’s Right to Reach Agreement

 A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday the group "appreciates" Lebanon's right to reach an agreement that protects its people and it hopes for a deal to end the war in Gaza.

A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement came into effect on Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the United States and France, but international efforts to halt the 14-month-old war between Hamas and Israel in the Palestinian territory of Gaza have stalled.

"Hamas appreciates the right of Lebanon and Hezbollah to reach an agreement that protects the people of Lebanon and we hope that this agreement will pave the way to reaching an agreement that ends the war of genocide against our people in Gaza," Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Later on Wednesday, the group said in a statement it was open to efforts to secure a deal in Gaza, reiterating its outstanding conditions.

"We are committed to cooperating with any effort to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and we are interested in ending the aggression against our people," Hamas said.

It added that an agreement must end the war, pull Israeli forces out of Gaza, return displaced Gazans to their homes, and achieve a hostages-for-prisoners swap deal.

Without a similar deal in Gaza, many residents said they felt abandoned. In the latest violence, Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed 15 people on Wednesday, some of them in a school housing displaced people, medics there said.

Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress and negotiations are now on hold, with mediator Qatar saying it has told the two warring parties it would suspend its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.

Abu Zuhri blamed the failure to reach a ceasefire deal that would end the Gaza war on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly accused Hamas of foiling efforts.

"Hamas showed high flexibility to reach an agreement and it is still committed to that position and is interested in reaching an agreement that ends the war in Gaza," Abu Zuhri said.

"The problem was always with Netanyahu who has always escaped from reaching an agreement," he added.

Hamas wants an agreement that ends the war in Gaza and sees the release of Israeli and foreign hostages as well as Palestinians jailed by Israel, while Netanyahu has said the war can only end after Hamas is eradicated.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, senior Palestinian Authority Hussein Al-Sheikh welcomed the agreement in Lebanon.

"We welcome the decision to ceasefire in Lebanon, and we call on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its criminal war in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and to stop all its escalatory measures against the Palestinian people," Sheikh, a confidant of President Mahmoud Abbas, posted on X.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday his administration was pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza.