The commander of the 17th Battalion, Border and Vital Targets Guard, Abdul Hafeez Al-Zintani, confirmed that the battalion had closed the gas pipeline linking the Daraj and Sinawen regions in western Libya since Saturday, adding in press statements that the battalion will gradually close the oil pipelines that pass through the region, starting on Monday.
He explained that the goal of shutting down oil and gas is “to end family rule and overthrow the government in Tripoli after its involvement in starving the people, plundering public funds, and strengthening armed groups,” in reference to the Government of National Unity headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Al-Zintani indicated that Dbeibah tried to communicate with the battalion through intermediaries for the purpose of reopening the gas pipeline. He said that they refused to communicate and did not want to talk with the intermediaries, adding that their goal was to overthrow the government.
Meanwhile, a number of members of the Petroleum Facilities Guard threatened to stop the flow of gas from the Mellitah oil complex and close all oil facilities in the country if the government did not implement the decisions to increase their salaries and grant them their agreed-upon rights.
Protesting members of the PFG said in a video statement in front of the Complex’s headquarters in the east of the city of Zuwara that the employees "suffer marginalization and exclusion and work in difficult as well as bad conditions, despite officials’ promises to enable them to receive all their dues,” indicating that the decision to close the main valve of the gas pipeline to the Mellitah Complex came after all solutions were in vain.
The PFG explained that the closure process would take place gradually, provided that coordination was made with the rest of the members across the country, so that the closure affects the rest of the fields, ports, and oil facilities in the coming days in the event that the government did not respond to their demands.
