“We have repelled two attacks, killed some of them and wounded others. We are ready for any new attack,” said Ali Alhassi, spokesman for the Oil Terminal Guards (OTG) in the central region of Sidra in Libya’s largest oil depot.
Alhassi recalled the January 4 Daesh attack on its oil port. Supported by Tripoli government airplanes that took off from Misrata, Alhassi said OTG experienced a “great victory” over Daesh, whose troops had advanced towards Sidra, 370 km west of Benghazi.
15 members of Daesh killed
“We have repelled two attacks, killed some of them and wounded others. We are ready for any new attack,” said Ali Alhassi, spokesman for the Oil Terminal Guards (OTG) in the central region of Sidra in Libya’s largest oil depot.
Alhassi recalled the January 4 Daesh attack on its oil port. Supported by Tripoli government airplanes that took off from Misrata, Alhassi said OTG experienced a “great victory” over Daesh, whose troops had advanced towards Sidra, 370 km west of Benghazi.
15 members of Daesh killed
Alhassi said a car bomb had targeted an OTG checkpoint on the first day of the clashes and killed three guards. Afterwards, everyone was on high alert. OTG also stopped another car that was heading towards another checkpoint and killed four Daesh members, of whom one was Libyan.
The clashes were preceded by stings indicating that this oil area might witness an attack, but, according to Alhassi, no one from his team expected it would happen so quickly, as the largest Daesh base is around 200 kilometres west of Sidra, in Sirte.
Alhassi said OTG officers killed 15 members of Daesh and wounded dozens, saying that the corpses are still in an unnamed hospital.
Rivals unite
Daesh’s offensive united two rivals that fought on the very same spot a year ago – OTG and Al Shorouk forces, commissioned by the General National Congress (GNC) to free the Oil Crescent from the OTG, headed by Ibrahim Jadhran, who had halted oil exports after controlling all ports in the central region. The opposing forces united to fight their common enemy – Daesh.
The unification between the two traditional rivals took humanitarian dimensions when some wounded OTGs were transferred to be treated in Misrata. An OTG official in the central region (who spoke under conditions of anonymity) said that the wounded guards were transferred by emergency helicopters from Ra’s Lanuf to Misrata and Tripoli to be treated.
Alhassi added that the air strike was not sufficient for Daesh’s complete withdrawal on the first day. “It was the heroic resistance by the OTGs and the residents of the surrounding area,” explains Alhassi. “The six men amongst our forces who died, is sufficient evidence that the battle was not easy.”
Daesh poses imminent danger
As soon as the clashes began in Sidra, official and unofficial parties hurried to issue statements denouncing the extremists’ attacks on Sidra.
First, Naji al Maghribi, head of the National Oil Corporation affiliated to the interim government of Al Bayda asked his government to take responsibility for what was happening in Sidra, stressing the need to provide the OTG staff with arms and equipment.
Media advisor of the National Consensus Government, Fathi Bin Issa says that what is happening in Sidra is too important to be addressed with statements. He believes the government position is clear; namely, to fight terrorist organizations, particularly Daesh. However, the fight against Daesh first needs the government to be ratified, in order to lift the arms embargo.
Fathi Maryami, media adviser to the parliament speaker Akila Saleh highlighted the latter’s call to all Libyan forces to unite against what he described as an “imminent danger” against Libya, warning that ISIS would continue moving towards neighboring countries as long as the ban on arms was not lifted.
Head of the GNC Political Committee, Moussa Faraj explained the GNC opinion saying that Daesh’s expansion and targeting of facilities considered as the nerve of the Libyan economy would leave no option but a quick consensus among all Libyans to enable the formation of a government capable of fighting the international terrorist group.
Finally, the interim Libyan government statement came through its media spokesman Hatem al-Oraibi who attacked the international community and accused it of being the reason behind the spread of Daesh in Libya, stressing that the OTG suffers from a lack of resources, arms, and equipment, and needs support.
Occupation or destruction
As Daesh’s attack came to an unsuccessful close, they bombed the oil storage tanks as they withdrew from the battlefield.
Firefighting officer in Sirte Oil Company, Mouftah Ashweqi said firefighters could not approach the tanks because of the blaze and the lack of visibility amidst the black clouds of smoke. “The burning of seven oil tanks is way more disastrous than you can imagine,” said Ashweqi, explaining on the first day, how Daesh bombed one of the tanks of Harouj Company (25 kilometres east of Sidra), which set another nearby tank on fire. On the second day, Daesh bombed a tank belonging to Waha Oil Company (five kilometres south of Sidra), which also set fire to four other tanks, each containing 500,000 barrels of crude oil.
“Imagine what might occur when setting ablaze 3.5 million barrels of crude oil and how much environmental damage might follow in the area” said Ashweqi, explaining that he and his colleagues had no firefighting equipment.
Daesh formally announced its presence in Libya over a year and a half ago, particularly in Sirte, but this was its first attack on the Oil Crescent region. “We are ready to kill more of them,” Ali Alhassi said.
