TRIPOLI, 12 August. - (ANA) - The head of military intelligence for Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's forces in eastern Libya was killed when an explosive device detonated in his car outside his home in Benghazi, security sources said.

 

Brig Fawzi Al Mansouri, eastern Libya's chief of military intelligence, was killed in the blast on Monday evening in the Hawari area of the city, Reuters reported, citing security sources.

 

Mr Haftar appointed Brig Al Mansouri to run military intelligence at the Libyan National Army's General Command in May 2024. He had previously commanded the Sabha military zone in southern Libya since August 2021 and led the Ain Zara and Wadi Al Rabie fronts during the LNA's 2019-20 assault on Tripoli.

 

Brig Al Mansouri had appeared in public alongside Mr Haftar's son, Saddam, in recent months, prompting speculation that he was a member of the eastern government's inner security circle.

 

Analysts said it was too early to form an opinion on who might be behind the killing of Brig Al Mansouri, the most senior LNA officer to be assassinated in Benghazi in years. The city was largely pacified as Mr Haftar's forces consolidated control after 2017.

 

The killing came as a separate series of drone attacks targeted critical oil infrastructure in western Libya, underscoring the country's renewed security instability.

 

At the Zawiya refinery, about 40km west of Tripoli, a drone strike hit a fuel storage tank, triggering a fire that eventually caused the tank to collapse.

 

The tank contained about 4.5 million litres of gasoline, Libya's oil ministry said. Thick black smoke and flames rose over the facility as emergency crews worked to contain the blaze.

 

Authorities sought to cool nearby tanks and prevent the fire from spreading, while the National Oil Corporation warned attacks could force it to halt operations.

 

The NOC later reported another drone attack targeting an oil blending and filling plant associated with the refinery. The strike landed near a major oil tank and pipeline network.

 

The attacks were the latest in a series targeting Zawiya's oil infrastructure. NOC said three attacks had struck oil assets over Sunday and Monday.

 

An earlier drone incident on Saturday hit an untreated naphtha tank at the refinery, causing a leak that workers managed to control.

 

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and Libyan authorities have not publicly identified a suspected perpetrator.

 

The Zawiya refinery is Libya's largest operating refinery, with capacity of 120,000 barrels per day. It is connected to the country's 300,000-bpd Sharara oilfield. It is also the sole source of fuel for greater Tripoli, meaning damage to its tanks could lead to shortages at petrol stations across the capital.

 

 

 

 

The drone strikes have unfolded against the backdrop of a militia war that broke out the night of August 4, with heavy fighting in Zawiya and neighbouring Surman between two armed groups nominally affiliated with the government in Tripoli.

 

The First Support Division, led by Mohamed Bahroun, is attached to the Ministry of Interior, while the 103rd Battalion, led by Othman Al Lahab, is attached to the Ministry of Defence.

 

The clashes closed the coastal motorway to Tunisia, damaged parts of the refinery complex and triggered a mass prison break in Surman. The first known use of armed drones by small militias in western Libya also reportedly took place.

 

Both companies whose facilities were hit have appealed to the militias to stop fighting without naming them.

 

Zawiya Oil Refining Company urged “all parties to distance the company's facilities from all clashes and armed phenomena”. Brega Petroleum Marketing Company, whose petrol tank was destroyed on Monday, called on “all parties to stop the fighting and stay away from oil facilities and depots”.

 

Clashes between armed groups affiliated with the government have become the norm in western Libya. Successive Tripoli governments, unable to build a national army from scratch after 2011, instead folded the strongest existing militias into the state, issuing each a decree, a formal designation and a salary line under one of the ministries.

 

However, the fighters, commanders and loyalties of these groups remain those of the original neighbourhood, city or tribal group from which they emerged.

 

 

 

 

Libya's political and military division remains unresolved more than a decade after the 2011 Nato-backed uprising toppled Muammar Qaddafi.

 

The country split between rival eastern and western factions in 2014. A 2020 ceasefire halted major warfare, but armed groups and competing administrations have retained influence.

 

The LNA controls much of eastern and southern Libya, and is aligned with authorities based in Benghazi.

 

The UN-recognised Government of National Unity, meanwhile, is based in Tripoli and controls much of western Libya, leaving the country divided between competing centres of power.

 

Libya's rival armies met in the central city of Sirte last month, with both sides declaring a unified national army as the only path to lasting stability.

 

The meeting is part of a broader, US-driven push led by Massad Boulos, US President Donald Trump's adviser on Arab and African affairs. Known as the Boulos Initiative, it offers the promise of American oil investment in return for unity.

 

Under the US proposal, Washington has explored a power-sharing formula that would keep Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, leader of the Government of National Unity, in office, while elevating Mr Haftar to a senior national executive role, possibly leading a unified presidential structure. -(ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/12 August 2026 - - -