Libyan Rebels Advance on Key Port of Zawiya

摘要

Libyan rebels now claim to control 70% of the key port city of Zawiya, which lies just 50 kilometers west of the capital Tripoli, adding to stated rebel advances in the towns of Sorman, west of Zawiya, and Gharyan, some 80 km south of Tripoli. But a rebel fighter told Reuters that forces loyal to the regime of Muammar Qaddafi still control the 120,000 barrel per day Zawiya refinery, the only one in western Libya, which supplies Qaddafi's forces with most of their fuel. The refinery is now only partly functioning after supplies to the plant were disrupted in June by rebel action along the pipeline that ships crude oil from fields in southwestern Libya to the coast (IOD Jun.23'11).