Fire Erupts Libya’s Largest Oil Refinery After Drone Attack

Libyan emergency crews are battling a massive fire at the Zawiya refinery west of Tripoli after the facility was struck in what officials believe was a drone attack on Monday evening, the third such incident to hit the area in two days.

The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said the strike directly hit a storage tank holding approximately 4.5 million litres of fuel, sparking a blaze intense enough to cause the tank’s collapse. The corporation warned it may suspend operations at the refinery entirely if attacks in the area continue. Libya’s Ambulance and Emergency Service reported no serious injuries from the fire on Tuesday, noting that most people treated were suffering from smoke inhalation.

Zawiya is Libya’s largest operating refinery, producing 120,000 barrels of oil per day. The NOC also condemned two earlier drone strikes in the same area in recent days, which targeted a naphtha storage reservoir and a water desalination plant, and called on authorities to launch an investigation into those responsible.

The string of attacks underscores the fragile security situation in Libya, a country that has remained divided since the civil war that followed the fall of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi ruled the country for four decades after seizing power in 1969 before being overthrown and killed in 2011 during a NATO-backed uprising.

In the years since, Libya has been split between rival administrations: an eastern faction aligned with military commander Khalifa Haftar, and a western government based in Tripoli under Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, with both sides continuing to compete for political and military control of the country.