The clashes trapped residents in their homes and caused fires at the country’s second largest oil refinery, city officials said.
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The fighting in the coastal city which is about 47 kilometres west of the capital Tripoli, pitted gunmen loyal to the Shurafaa ethnic group against warlord Mohamed Kushlaf, according to local media. Kushalf was sanctioned by the U.N. 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.
Oil-rich Libya has been divided for years between rival administrations in the east and west. It plunged into chaos following the 2011 uprising-turned-civil war, which toppled and later killed long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Amid the chaos, militias grew in wealth and power, particularly in Tripoli and the western part of the country.
The fighting on Sunday closed a major coastal road linking Zawiya to other cities in western Libya and classes were suspended.
“Many families are trapped in their homes. Bullets are being fired indiscriminately, hitting houses and buildings,” resident Ahmed Abu Hussein said by phone. He said the fighting occurred in multiple areas across the city, including densely populated quarters, causing panic and terror among civilians.
The clashes also caused “severe damage” to storage tanks in the Zawiya oil refinery, the Libyan National Oil Corp. said.
Bullets hit oil tanks, leading to “dangerous” fires, it said, adding that firefighters managed to control the fires and gas leakage as clashes raged around the refinery.
The company, which runs Libya’s oil industry, declared emergency and force majeure, a legal manoeuvre that releases it of its contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances.
The Libyan Observer newspaper posted video on X of what it said was the refinery on fire overnight.
In August, clashes between two heavily armed militias in Tripoli killed at least nine people and wounded 16 others.
Libya is currently governed by Dbeibah’s government in Tripoli and by the administration of Prime Minister Ossama Hammad in the east, which is allied with forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter.