Libya Attacked by Drone Strike on Oil Refinery and Car Bombing of Intelligence Chief
3 sources across 3 countries · Qatar · South Africa · United States · 1 of them is linked to a state
Who reported this
- Al Jazeera
- Business Day
- Bloomberg
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
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A series of attacks struck Libya on Monday, including a drone strike on a major oil refinery in the west and the assassination of a senior military intelligence chief in the east. Major General Fawzi Al Mansouri, the director of military intelligence for the Libyan National Army (LNA) in Benghazi, was killed when a car bomb detonated as he entered his vehicle outside his home. Osama Saad Hammad, the prime minister of the eastern Libyan government, condemned the killing as a treacherous terrorist act and pledged to uncover the circumstances of the crime.
Simultaneously, a drone strike hit a fuel storage tank at the Zawiya oil refinery, the largest operational refinery in Libya, located about 47 kilometers west of Tripoli. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) reported that the tank held 4.5 million liters of fuel and collapsed after the strike, sparking a massive blaze that burned through Tuesday. Other drone strikes targeted a nearby power plant and a desalination plant. While no casualties were reported from the refinery attacks, the NOC warned it could suspend operations if the strikes continue.
No group has claimed responsibility for either the bombing in Benghazi or the drone strikes in Zawiya. Analysts suggest the refinery attacks may be linked to tensions between the government in Tripoli and a local warlord in Zawiya. These events occur amid a broader landscape of division between the internationally recognized Government of National Unity in Tripoli and the LNA, led by Khalifa Haftar, which controls much of the east and south.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Focused on the internal political structure of Libya and the specific condemnation of the assassination by the eastern government.
- Centre
- Framed the events as obstacles to US President Donald Trump's efforts to reunify the country.
- Centre-right
- Emphasized the technical details of the refinery damage and the potential role of local warlords in the western attacks.
Sources
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