Renewed fighting hits Libya's key oil region

Islamist militias attacked Libya's key oil-producing region on Wednesday and were repelled by forces commanded by controversial general Khalifa Haftar, military sources told AFP. The Benghazi Defence Brigades attacked Ben Jawad town near the coastal "oil crescent", where Haftar had seized four export terminals from pro-government forces in September.
The alliance of Islamist and tribal fighters was then repelled by Haftar's forces, Colonel Moftah el-Magarief, head of an oil facilities guard under Haftar's control, told AFP. "We have taken control of Ben Jawad and seized equipment and prisoners from the Benghazi Defence Brigade," he said. "The air force targeted equipment belonging to the attacking force and we can confirm that all the oil fields and terminals are under our forces' control." An engineer at the Al-Sidra port, 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Ben Jawad, said an aircraft belonging to Haftar's forces had bombed a column of military vehicles belonging to the Benghazi fighters.