Libyan militias that occupied two key oil terminals last week said Monday they intend to take the eastern city of Benghazi and unseat Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, who controls the area. Col. Mustafa Alsharksi, leader of the so-called Benghazi Defense Brigades, said more than 3,000 men are poised to continue eastward now that they have taken over the oil terminals of al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf. The move threatens to escalate the conflict between Libya’s two competing parliaments and governments, each backed by a set of militias, tribes and political factions, and potentially damage the contested oil installations.
“Our main goal is to return our city,” Alsharksi said at a news conference in Misrata. “Our main goal is to reject and say no to oppression, say no to military rule (of Hifter),” The militias are comprised of Islamic militants and former rebels recently defeated by Hifter’s forces in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city. They were joined by militiamen from the western city of Misrata. Alsharksi, who described Hifter as a “criminal,” said his forces will continue to ensure oil revenues go to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli. The Hifter-allied army units say they have deployed more forces in preparation for a counterattack to drive out the militias, describing the militias’ recent advances as “a war against a whole region” that “they will not win.”