The Libyan National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar revealed that it has resisted a surprise attack by armed militias allied with other militias that are believed to be loyal to the government of national accord that is headed by Faiz Al-Siraj and backed by the United Nations Mission.

The spokesman for the national army in Libya Colonel Ahmed Al-Mismary told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army’s forces were able to defeat what he described as terrorist groups that tried to attack the “oil crescent”, arrested their most prominent leaders and seized their weapons and ammunition.

Al-Mismary explained that the army has simultaneously started the phase to expel the enemy from the Bin Jawad area after the army’s forces resisted an attempted attack on some of the main oil ports in the country, and pointed out that rival fighters have withdrawn from a nearby city.

On his part, the commander of the chamber of military operations Brigadier Salim Al-Hassi confirmed that all army positions in oil ports are currently under control and that this includes Bin Jawad which lies 150 kilometres south-east of Sirte where forces led by the Misrata brigades secured the last buildings that ISIS used to control, and that this occurred as a result of the military campaign against the militant group that lasted for about seven months.