A major oil refinery in Libya has been hit by a drone attack, setting a huge fuel tank on fire and raising fresh fears about the country’s fragile security and oil operations.
On Monday evening, the Zawiya oil refinery west of Tripoli took a direct hit. This is not some small outpost. It is the largest operational facility in Libya, pushing out 120,000 barrels a day.
A drone slammed right into a tank holding about 4.5 million litres of fuel. The explosion triggered a massive blaze. The heat was so intense that the giant tank simply collapsed.
Emergency crews spent the night fighting the flames, breathing in thick black smoke. Libya’s Ambulance and Emergency Service said there were no serious injuries, just workers treated for smoke inhalation. But the physical damage is heavy.
This was not a random accident. It was the third drone strike in just two days.
Before the main refinery was hit, drones targeted a naphtha reservoir and a water desalination plant in the exact same area. The National Oil Corporation is furious. They condemned the violence and demanded an investigation to find out who is flying these machines. They even warned they might have to suspend operations completely if the sky keeps raining explosives.
Nobody is claiming responsibility for the drones yet. But the motive is easy to see. Libya has been split down the middle since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in 2011.
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For over a decade, rival power centers have been fighting for control. You have the military commander Khalifa Haftar holding down the east, and Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah trying to run things from the west in Tripoli. It is a constant, bitter jostling for dominance.
When you cannot beat your rival in the streets, you target the infrastructure that pays the bills.
The fires at Zawiya will eventually burn out, and the collapsed tank will be cleared away. But until someone figures out who is controlling the drones in the dark, the people running Libya’s oil will just be waiting for the next strike.
