The armed forces of Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar said on Thursday that their warplanes had attacked Chadian rebels in the country's southern desert last weekend.

Air raids targeted a rebel-held roadblock 400 kilometres (250 miles) southeast of Sebha, as well as other positions in an oasis in the Terbu region 400 kms farther south, an official with Haftar's so-called Libyan National Army (LNA) told AFP.

"The strikes aim at restoring security and applying law in the south," the official said, without giving details about the identity of the targets.

An armed Chadian group, the Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic (CCMSR), said it had been attacked by Haftar's planes.

CCMSR's spokesman in exile, Kingabe Ogouzeimi de Tapol, said there were no casualties.

Chadian President Idriss Deby, he charged, had "subcontracted" Haftar to destroy rebels in Libya who are fighting to overturn the Chadian leader.

CCMSR claims to have several thousand fighters in Chad. It split in 2016 from another anti-Deby group in Libya, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), based in Jufra, which is reputedly on good terms with Haftar.

Chad has a long history of revolt by rebels staged from across its borders. Deby and his precedessor Hissene Habre were themselves rebels who seized power by force of arms.

However, rebel groups today are relatively weak and divided, often using trafficking or extortion to raise funds to survive.

Three CCMSR members, including its leader, Hassan Boulmaye, were arrested last October in the fellow Sahel country of Niger.

Haftar, who opposes a UN-backed unity government based in Tripoli, announced the "liberation" of the eastern city of Benghazi last July after a three-year campaign.

Related Links
All About Oil and Gas News at OilGasDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

IEA sees short-term bottlenecks for U.S. oil sector
Washington (UPI) Mar 28, 2018
Steel tariffs and the pace at which U.S. oil production is accelerating could act as a short-term throttle to momentum, the International Energy Agency said. The United States is on pace to become the largest oil producer in the world, possibly passing Russia at some point in the very near future. Most of the U.S. production comes from a handful of shale basins in the country and the more lucrative ones are in Texas. The IEA said it expects production from the Eagle Ford and Permian basi ... read more