Libyan Military Repels Militants' Attack on Oil Crescent

RAJMA (Sputnik) — The forces led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the armed forces loyal to Libya's Tobruk-based parliament, have repelled an offensive by militants against an area known as Libya's oil crescent with its major oil terminals located on the Mediterranean shore, the general's spokesman Khalifa Obeidi told Sputnik on Sunday.

"A sleeping jihadist cell has become active in Ras Lanuf [Mediterranean town in northern Libya] not far from the port. The armed forces have responded to its actions," Obeidi said adding that militants have failed to capture any areas and the oil crescent has remained under Haftar's army control.

Earlier in September, Haftar gained full control of the oil crescent area, though, militant groups, allied with the unity government in Tripoli, have launched a counterattack.

Libya has been in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a civil war broke out in the country and long-standing leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown, and the country was contested by two rival governments — the internationally-recognized Council of Deputies based in Tobruk and the Tripoli-based General National Congress.

The United Nations helped to bring about a ceasefire in late 2015 and on March 31 the UN-backed unity government took office in Tripoli. The government has so far failed to unite the country.