Libya’s unity government dismantles cell behind drone attacks on vital energy facilities

Libya’s Government of National Unity announced Sunday that it had dismantled an organized “sabotage cell” involved in attacks using explosive-laden drones on oil and electricity facilities in the capital Tripoli and the western city of Zawiya.

An intelligence and security operation conducted by the Defense Ministry led to the arrest of five Libyan and foreign suspects, the government said in a statement, without disclosing the foreigners’ nationalities.

During the first half of August, facilities at the Zawiya oil complex, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Tripoli, were targeted in unidentified attacks involving remotely detonated explosive drones, damaging oil infrastructure.

Power generation and water facilities in the city were targeted in similar attacks during the same period.

Other attacks targeted an oil storage tank and a power station in Tripoli but caused no damage.

The government said the Defense Ministry also thwarted “other plots that were close to being carried out,” including plans to attack a power station south of Tripoli, other vital facilities, and political, security and military figures.

Available information confirmed that the incidents were “not isolated or random acts, but rather part of a broad and interconnected sabotage plot involving multiple parties, tools and objectives,” the statement said.

The plot “systematically targeted infrastructure, energy resources and oil and electricity facilities,” it added.

“Dismantling this cell is not the end of the operation but the beginning of uncovering all the threads and extensions of this plot,” the government said.

It vowed to continue pursuing the remaining suspects and identify those who planned, financed, supported, facilitated and incited the attacks or provided cover for them.