Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Clashes broke out Sunday between armed groups in a western Libyan city, trapping residents in their homes and causing fires in the country’s second largest oil refinery, officials said. The fighting in the coastal city of Zawiya, about 47 kilometres (about 30 miles) west of capital Tripoli, pitted gunmen loyal to the Shurafaa tribe against warlord Mohamed Kushalf, according to local media. Kushalf was sanctioned by the UN Security Council in 2018 for his alleged involvement in human trafficking.
It wasn’t immediately clear what triggered the clashes but they are not uncommon in western Libya, which is controlled by an array of lawless militias and armed groups allied with Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s government.” (12/15/24)