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Africa North
Heavy clashes erupt at Libya oil crescent as control slips out of Haftar’s hand to Jodran’s
2018-06-15
[LIBYANEXPRESS] Clashes erupted this dawn at the Libyan oil crescent between a coalition of forces led by former leader of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) Ibrahim Jodran and the forces of the self-styled army of Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
, who are positioned in the region.

Libya’s Es Sider oil port was shut on Thursday due to the festivities nearby and at least one storage tank in the neighbouring Ras Lanuf terminal was set alight, an engineer in the area said. Loadings were suspended at Ras Lanuf, according to a local shipping agent.

Jodran, who appeared today out of the blue, says his coalition forces aim to lift the suffering of the Libyans from "terrorist entity as that of Haftar’s self-styled army."

According to sources from the scene of fighting, Arclight airstrikes are being used by Haftar’s forces to thwart the full control of the PFG on the oil crescent region.

Haftar took control of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf along with other oil ports in Libya’s oil crescent in 2016, allowing them to reopen after a long blockade.
Storage tanks at both terminals were badly damaged in previous fighting and have yet to be repaired, though there has been regular loadings from Es Sider.

Posted by:Fred

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