More than 50 killed in Benghazi, Tripoli clashes

Libyan armed faction takes over U.S. Embassy annex in Tripoli Sun, Aug 31 16:54 PM EDT image 1 of 4 By Mark Hosenball and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of a Libyan militia have taken over an abandoned annex of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli but have not broken into the main compound where the United States evacuated all of its staff last month, U.S. officials said on Sunday. A YouTube video showed the breach of the diplomatic facility by what was believed to be a militia group mostly from the northwestern city of Misrata. Dozens of men, some armed, were seen gleefully crowded onto the patio of a swimming pool, with some diving in from the balcony of a nearby building. Libya has been rocked by the worst factional violence since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi, and a Misrata-led alliance, part of it which is Islamist-leaning, now controls the capital. A takeover of the embassy compound could deliver another symbolic blow to Washington over its policy toward Libya, which Western governments fear is teetering toward becoming a failed state just three years after a NATO-backed war ended Gaddafi’s rule. The United States withdrew all embassy personnel from Tripoli on July 26, driving diplomats across the border into Tunisia under armed guard, amid escalating clashes between rival factions. The annex, apparently consisting of diplomatic residences, is located about a mile (2 km) from the main embassy compound. All sensitive materials were destroyed or removed from U.S. diplomatic sites in the capital before the evacuation. Security in Libya is an especially contentious subject for the United States because of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, in which militants killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Republican lawmakers have kept up steady criticism of President Barack Obama over his administration’s handling of the Benghazi attack, and they have also cited Libya’s latest unrest as another example of what they see as the Democratic president’s failed policy in the volatile region. “Libya now is collapsed into a failed state," U.S. Senator John McCain told CBS's "Face the Nation" program. "That is what happens when you lead from behind." U.S. Ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones, in a message on Twitter, said the YouTube recording, apparently posted by an amateur videographer, appeared to show “a residential annex of the U.S. mission but cannot say definitively.” Jones, now based in Malta, said, however, that the embassy compound “is now being safeguarded and has not been ransacked.” The U.S. government believes the main embassy compound is still intact and has not been seized, a U.S. official in Washington told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said that while the pool area of the residential annex was full of intruders, there was no indication of any similar scene at the embassy itself. The Misrata-led groups refuse to recognize Libya’s central government and elected parliament, which have moved to the remote eastern city of Tobruk. The Misrata forces have set up an alternative parliament which is assembling a rival government headed by Omar al-Hasi, an Islamist. Hasi called on Saturday for diplomatic missions to return to Tripoli, saying foreigners would be protected. The North African oil producer appears at risk of splitting or even sliding into civil war as political divisions and fighting among former rebels who helped topple Gaddafi have created uncertainty and chaos. (Additional reporting by Ulf Lessing in Cairo and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Cynthia Osterman) ======== Libya’s capital on the brink of environmental disaster A picture taken on July 28, 2014 shows flames and smoke billowing from an oil depot where a huge blaze started following clashes around Tripoli airport, in southern Tripoli (AFP) Text size A A A By Al Arabiya News | Staff Writer Tuesday, 29 July 2014 Rising temperatures from a flaming oil depot may ignite nearby reserves containing 90 million liters of fuel which will lead to a “catastrophe” affecting a radius of three to five kilometers, Libyan officials warned on Tuesday according to Al Arabiya News Channel. The Buraiqa fuel depot continues to burn out of control after it was set ablaze on Monday, Reuters reported. A missile hit the depot during fighting between rival militias, which enters its third week, igniting more than one million liters of benzene. Combat has claimed more than 100 lives and wounded 400 others. Firefighters were forced to withdraw from attempts to extinguish the fire due to fighting over control of a nearby airport. In a statement, the Libyan government appealed to the international community to aid in extinguishing the fire, which reached another oil depot nearby. The Buraiqa depot houses all fuel and gas reserves consumed by the city’s population. As a result of the turmoil, fuel and gas shortages, in addition to frequent electricity cuts, have affected life in in Tripoli. Water pumping stations stopped operating and in consequence many do not have access to running water. Libya’s oil ministry called upon the people of Tripoli to take caution of the fire and to evacuate the area surrounding the depots. Fears of spillover Libya has called for international help to stop the country from becoming a failed state. The Italian government and national energy giant ENI will send seven fire-fighting planes in response to the Libyan government’s call for aid in extinguishing the fire, Libyan authorities said Tuesday. Italy will also send teams to help firefighters try to tackle the blaze. Western partners fear chaos spilling across borders with arms smugglers and militants already profiting from the turmoil. In neighboring Egypt, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly warned about militants capitalizing on Libya's chaos to set up bases along their mutual frontier, according to Reuters. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the "free-wheeling militia violence" had been a real risk for American diplomats on the ground, and called for an end to the violence. U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens was killed by militants along with three others in Benghazi in September 2012. [With AFP] Last Update: Tuesday, 29 July 2014 KSA 14:57 - GMT 11:57 ============= More than 50 killed in Benghazi, Tripoli clashes Sun, Jul 27 07:12 AM EDT image By Ahmed Elumami and Feras Bosalum BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - At least 36 people were killed in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, many of them civilians, in clashes between Libyan Special Forces and Islamist militants on Saturday night and Sunday morning, medical and security sources said. Another 23 people, all Egyptian workers, were killed in the capital Tripoli when a rocket hit their home on Saturday during clashes between rival militias battling over the city's main airport, the Egyptian state news agency reported. In the last two weeks, Libya has descended into its deadliest violence since the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, prompting the United States, the United Nations and Turkey to pull diplomats out of the North African country. With the central government unable to impose order, two rival militias are exchanging rocket and artillery fire in Tripoli, while army units are trying to push out Islamist militants who have set up camps on the outskirts of Benghazi. The United States evacuated its embassy in Libya on Saturday, driving diplomats across the border into Tunisia under heavy military protection after escalating clashes broke out near the embassy compound in Tripoli. Early on Sunday, sporadic shelling continued in Tripoli though far less than in the previous days. There were no immediate reports of any casualties. But clashes were far heavier in Benghazi overnight, where regular army and air force units have joined with a renegade ex-army general who has launched a self-declared campaign to oust Islamist militants from the city. A source from the Special forces fighting Islamist militants in Benghazi told Reuters clashes involved warplanes hitting militant positions belonging to Ansar al Sharia and another group in the city. A medical source said 36 people were killed, many of them civilians, and another 65 wounded during clashes on that lasted into the night. Dozens of families have been evacuated from the area between the two sides to escape the fighting. Libya's western allies worry the OPEC country is becoming polarized between the two main factions of competing militia brigades and their political allies, whose battle is shaping the country's transition. Special envoys for Libya from the Arab League, the United States and European countries expressed their concerns about the situation in Libya, saying it had reached a "critical stage" and called for an immediate ceasefire. "The UN should play a leading role in reaching a ceasefire in conjunction with the Libyan government and other internal partners, with the full support of the international envoys," a statement issued after a meeting in Brussels said. A new Libyan parliament was elected in June and western governments hope warring parties may be able to reach a political agreement when the lawmakers meet in August for the first session. But three years after Gaddafi's demise, Libya's transition to democracy has been delayed by political infighting and militia violence. Armed groups have also targeted the oil industry to pressure the state. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami and Feras Bosalum in Benghazi; Writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Patrick Markey and Angus MacSwan) ========= Seven killed in clashes between army and militants in Libya's Benghazi Mon, Jul 21 17:04 PM EDT By Ayman al-Warfalli and Feras Bosalum BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - Islamist militants attacked an army base in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, triggering fierce clashes involving helicopters and jets that killed at least seven people and wounded 40 others after days of escalating violence. Benghazi's clashes followed a week of fighting between rival militias for control of Tripoli International Airport in the capital that has prompted the North Africa country to appeal for international help to stop Libya becoming a failed state. Tripoli was calmer on Monday, but in Benghazi, militants linked to Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia attacked an army camp and were repelled by troops and forces loyal to renegade retired general Khalifa Haftar, who has been carrying out a self-declared war on Islamist fighters, security sources said. "Ansar al-Sharia tried to take over one special forces camp, but the special forces and Hafter's forces fought back, using helicopters and military aircraft in their attack," one source said, asking not to be identified for security reasons. Since the 2011 civil war that toppled autocrat Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's fragile government and new army have been unable to assert authority over rival brigades of former rebels fighting for political and economic influence. Ansar al-Sharia is listed by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization, and has entrenched itself in Benghazi, where it has often been blamed for assassinations and attacks on soldiers. Haftar, a former Gaddafi army officer who fled to the United States after breaking ranks with the Libyan leader, has launched a campaign on the Islamists in Benghazi, bringing to his side elements of the regular army and air force. Tripoli's central government says he is acting without the authorization of the state. While his campaign is popular with many in the east, his forces appear to be in a stalemate over Benghazi for now. In the capital, the clash over Tripoli airport in the last week has killed at least 47 people, the health ministry said, in some of the worst violence in the city since the 2011 civil war. The clashes have stopped most international flights, damaged more than a dozen planes parked at the airport and prompted the United Nations to pull its staff out of the country due to security concerns. The airport battle mirrors a broader standoff between rival factions competing for power in Libya, each claiming the mantle of rebel savior, each heavily armed and each demanding their share of the post-Gaddafi spoils. The airport area is under the control of former fighters from the western town of Zintan who have held it since the fall of Tripoli in 2011. Rival Islamist-leaning militias allied with powerful brigades from the city of Misrata have fought with the Zintanis to dislodge them from the airport. The Zintanis are loosely allied with more nationalist political forces while Misrata and various allied militias are tied to the Islamist Justice and Construction Party, a political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. OIL PRODUCTION CREEPING BACK Three years since Gaddafi's death, the violence and militia rivalries have all but stopped the OPEC country's transition to full democracy as the government struggles to stamp its authority on a country where the state holds little sway.

Many of the former rebel brigades are on the government payroll as quasi-official security forces in a failed bid to bring them under control, but many are more faithful to political factions, tribes or even local commanders in a complex web of loyalties.

Libya's oil resources have often been targeted by different armed groups since 2011 to pressure the government for financial or political gain. Last year a string of protests slashed oil output to less than half the usual 1.4 million barrels per day. In a rare success, a negotiated deal in April mostly ended a year-long blockade by a former rebel commander over four key oil ports, allowing the country to start slowly rebuilding production, shipping crude and earning vital oil revenue. Libya state oil company National Oil Corp (NOC) on Monday reached a deal with security guards to end a protest at eastern Brega oil port, which is expected to allow the terminal to reopen on Tuesday, a company spokesman said. Reopening Brega would allow the state-run Sirte Oil Company to start producing again and further boost Libya's output after the end to other port and oilfield protests. Late last week, NOC said production was around 555,000 barrels per day. (Reporting by Feras Bosalum and Ayman Al-Warfalli in Benghazi; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Louise Ireland and David Evans) =====