BENGHAZI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th November, 2019) The air force of the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, has conducted airstrikes on targets of Chadian militants, who operate as mercenaries, in the southwest of Libya, an LNA source told Sputnik on Thursday.
"Fighter jets of the [Libyan] National Army aviation ... were scrambled from the Tamanhint base in the city of Sabha, located in the south of the country. The warplanes of the LNA aviation attacked the assembly [site] for [combat] vehicles of Chadian mercenaries, who were planning to attack the Sharara oil field at dawn on Thursday. Thirty-five vehicles were destroyed," the source said.
Ahmed Mismari, the LNA spokesman, wrote on Facebook, that the army's jets had struck targets belonging to groups controlled by the western-based Government of National Accord (GNA), which had entered El Feel oil field. Mismari said the LNA forces had destroyed the group's vehicles.
The LNA spokesman added that the army's units continued arriving at the area to expel "vandals" still operating there.
The Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Wednesday that El Feel had been shut down due to fighting that was underway close to it.
At the same time, media reported that the LNA had secured control over the oil field after expelling the rival forces from there.
Libya is ruled by two competing governments. The country's eastern part is controlled by the LNA, while the western part is administered by the UN-backed GNA. Since April, the sides have been engaged in an open military confrontation.
