Libya

TRIPOLI, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Thursday said that the suspension of oil exports because of the closure of oil fields and ports has caused losses of more than three billion U.S. dollars so far.

"Oil and gas production in Libya has been consistently down. The current levels of production are 97,508 barrels a day, as of Wednesday March 11, 2020. Forced restriction of production has resulted in financial losses exceeding 3,086,823,264 USD since January 17, 2020," NOC said in a statement.

11 Mar 2020; MEMO: Military forces affiliate with Libyan Commander Khalifa Haftar carried out two separate strikes on two different schools in Tripoli, Arabi21 reported yesterday.

The two schools are located in the vicinity of Abu Salim municipality.

Since 4 April 2019, Tripoli has been under continuous attack through the use of artillery bombings and airstrikes by Haftar’s military forces.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Yazan, a 1-year-old Libyan boy, was born with congenital heart disease. With just one chamber, the organ pumped so little blood that when Yazan cried, his skin turned black. Without surgery, he would not survive.

But Yazan’s country, Libya, has only one heart surgeon who can’t possibly perform surgeries on 1,200 or so infants born every year with heart defects. Of those, typically some 150 are in dire need of surgery and die in their first year, said William Novick, an American pediatric cardiac surgeon.

TRIPOLI, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) on Sunday said the rival east-based army attacked a residential area in Tripoli, killing and injuring a number of civilians.

"A woman and a man were killed and four others wounded as an initial death toll of Grad missile attacks carried out by the militia of the war criminal (Khalifa) Haftar (commander of the east-based army) on Suk al-Juma area," the GNA said in a statement.

The east-based army has not commented about the attacks so far.

TRIPOLI, March 7 (Xinhua) -- A spokesman of Libya's UN-backed government's forces Saturday said its forces targeted units of the east-based army in south of the capital Tripoli.

"Our forces destroyed an ammunition store and gatherings of the militias (belonging to the east-based army) in Qasr Bin Ghashir (southern Tripoli)," Mohamed Gonono said in a statement.

TRIPOLI, March 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The only functioning airport in the Libyan capital said that it was shifting all flights to the town of Misrata due to shelling in the area following an escalation in fighting over recent days.

Rocket fire and shelling towards the airport ramped up late last week as a United Nations effort to bring the warring sides together in Geneva failed to make headway.

On Monday, the U.N. special envoy Ghassan Salame said he was resigning.

TRIPOLI, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The forces of the UN-backed Libyan government said on Friday that the rival east-based army attacked the Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli with heavy shelling.

"Haftar (commander of the east-based army) targeted the Mitiga Airport and its surroundings, as well as a number of residential neighborhoods in the capital Tripoli, with more than 60 Grad missiles," the UN-backed government forces said in a statement.

"Initial reports indicate that a woman was injured as her house was hit with a missile," it added.

GENEVA, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Representatives from Libya’s warring sides have suspended their participation in United Nations-sponsored peace talks aimed at bringing an end to more than 10 months of fighting.

The move came despite assurances by a spokesperson for the world governing body that negotiations would still go ahead.

Ahmaida Erouhma, who leads the eastern side’s Geneva committee, said his faction’s refusal to take part in the negotiations is due to the UN’s approval of only eight of 13 names his side put forward for the delegation.

25 Feb 2020; MEMO: Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has announced the suspension of its participation in the Geneva talks scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

The UN aims to broker ceasefire talks in Geneva, but the GNA said in a press release that the Libyan National Army, led by the renegade commander Khalifa Haftar, has continued its attacks on Tripoli in an apparent violation of an ongoing truce.

BENGHAZI (Libya), Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Forces loyal to Libyan eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar said they had killed 16 Turkish soldiers in recent weeks, a day after Turkey acknowledged it had lost several “martyrs” in combat in the north African country.

Khalid al-Mahjoub, a spokesman for Haftar’s self-styled Libya National Army (LNA), said the Turks were killed in the port city of Misrata, in battles in Tripoli and in the town of al-Falah south of the capital.