LIbya: Part 2 - Eastern Libya Battles

Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) was surprised when the oil ports at Es Sider and Ras Lanuf were attacked by the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB). The LNA was forced to retreat, but counter-attacked. Via Reuters, it didn't take long from the LNA to gain back control:

The head of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) confirmed on Friday (June 22) that Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) had regained control of the key oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, and said he hoped operations would resume in the “next couple of days”. 



The ports help facilitate 450,000 barrels per day of oil. Though the ports were taken back, three oil storage tanks were damaged by fire. That would imply, that a lower level of oil can now go through these ports until the tanks are repaired or replaced.

It should be noted that Libya produces about 1 million barrels per day. So these two ports handle 45% of Libyan oil.

France 24 provides some interesting details.

1. These two ports were previously controlled by Ibrahim Jadhran and his Petroleum Facilities Guard up to 2016. (The National article that I discuss below, states that control was between 2013 - 2016 and was more of a blockade so maybe he was taking a cut of the oil profits in order to allow ships to pick up oil.)

2. In 2016, they were forced out by the LNA.

3. As mentioned in Part 1, Jadhran joined up with the BDB to take back control of the facilities.

4. The BDB is made up of Islamic fighters who once controlled Benghazi.

In Part 1, I had speculated that maybe the BDB wasn't happy with their cut of the oil revenues and so decided to attack the ports. After reading France 24, it is possible that Jadhran and the BDB are just doing this to cause problems for the LNA and don't care about a few deaths. Yet, again, why not take a big step and destroy the ports? Neither the Reuters or France 24 articles provide any speculation on why there was an attack on the ports. As mentioned in Part 1, did they really believe they could hold onto the ports for the long term? The answer may actually be maybe.

The National mentions that Jadhran and the BDB are now counter-counter attacking. The article also provides a little additional detail that perhaps does give Jadhran and the BDB some hope that they might control the ports:

Jadhran, allied with Chadian mercenaries and an Islamist group, known as the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), which has links to Al-Qaeda and Ansar Al-Sharia, took the terminals from the LNA last week in a surprise offensive.

I had previously talked about Chad mercenaries back in March. At the time, these mercenaries were fighting in southern Libya against the LNA. Now they're fighting on the Mediterranean. This provides some indication that the LNA power might be slipping.

It should be noted that the LNA has fighter jets. There is no mention that the opposition has such weapons.

My question: do we now have 3 major power centers in Libya? I say major as there are likely many smaller groups. The LNA. The UN backed government, GNA (Government of National Accord). And a third group of Islamic/Chadian militants.