Haftar's Forces Take Key Oil Facility

Forces loyal to Libyan general Khalifa Haftar say they have taken control of the country's largest oil field, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

The Libyan National Army (LNA) gained control of the Sharara oil field in southern Libya without resistance, a spokesman for the force said on Wednesday. 

Local sources in the town of Ubari said the LNA had only entered station 186, some 25 miles (40 km) from the oil field, reported the Libya Observer on Thursday.

Other sources said that forces loyal to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli were stationed near Sharara and awaiting permission to enter. 

The announcement raised hopes that production could resume at the facility, which was closed in December after gunmen assaulted the site. 

An anonymous official from the government in Tripoli told Reuters that Haftar's forces had entered the oil field. The official declined to elaborate. 

The move came after the Tripoli-based Presidential Council, which is backed by the U.N., announced a new military leader for the south, noted Bloomberg News. Some have predicted that Tripoli might launch a counteroffensive to retake the oil field. 

The LNA is a militia that claims to fight for the eastern government based in Tobruk. 

Haftar has directed a wide-reaching campaign to consolidate control over large swaths of the oil-producing southwest.