A series of drone attacks carried out at Libyan ports has killed three workers, local reports said.
The operation was carried out against fuel smugglers by the Tripoli-based government of national unity at the western oil port of Zawiya and the smaller al-Maya facility 30km to the east.
“Air strikes were carried out on Saturday by drones targeting and destroying tanker trucks carrying smuggled fuel,” Libya’s al-Ahrar television channel said.
Another site was hit “near the Bir al-Ghanam bridge” in Zawiya, 45km west of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast on Thursday.
Several other explosions were heard across the city’s west early on Saturday, residents told the AFP news agency.
Al-Maya has also seen repeated clashes between rival militias in recent weeks.
The defence ministry said it had carried out “accurate and targeted air strikes against the caches of traffickers of fuels, narcotics and human beings” around Zawiya.
The strikes had been ordered by interim prime minister Abdulhamid Ddeibah, the ministry added.
Critical threat
Security company Dryad Global said sectarian violence has been on the rise in recent weeks.
“Footage believed to be of the incident appears to indicate a vessel was struck whilst alongside at the al-Maya port 30km east of al Zawiya,” the company added.
“Whilst details remain unclear, the risk level for commercial vessels calling at Zawiya is assessed to be critical in the short term,” Dryad said.
But it added that more attacks on major ports by forces loyal to Dbeibeh “is not assessed at this time to be in any way beneficial to the wider strategic aims of power consolidation and uprooting problematic non-state actors.”
