First Air Strikes Libyan Forces Against The Islamists Militias

For the first time since 2011, the Libyan forces conducted raids Sunday on Islamist positions in Misrata. The intervention was implemented after Islamist strikes against the oil terminal of Al-Sedra.

Libyan forces had not launched air raids on extremist militias since the fall ofMuammar Gaddafi in 2011. They led, Sunday, Dec. 28, strikes on Islamist positions in the coastal city of Misrata, the third largest city. According to officials, it would be the hometown militiamen who seized Tripoli, the capital.

Hours earlier, Islamist militias grouped in the coalition Fajr Libya, had launched strikes against the oil terminal of Al-Sedra, east, said the spokesman of the command of the armed forces, Colonel Ahmed Mesmari.

For two weeks, government forces oppose Islamist militias for control of the site of Al-Sedra, one of the terminals of the “oil Ascending” Libya which includes Ras Lanuf and Brega, the three largest in the country.

Witnesses reported that the raids of Libyan forces targeted the Aviation Academy, near the airport and the port of the city and a steel plant. There would be no victims according to them.

Seven of the Al-Sedra tanks were on fire because of the fighting, but firefighters were able to extinguish the fire Sunday night in four of them, an official said. The fire began Thursday when a rocket fired Fajr by Libya militia has hit Al-Sedra.

In chaos since the 2011 revolution, Libya, in the hands of militias, is led by two parliaments and two governments : one close to the Islamists and one recognized by the international community.

UN Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) condemned the attack oil facilities, saying in a statement that “the Libyan oil belongs to all its citizens and is a vital resource” for the country.