Two major Libyan oil ports closed

Tue Mar 8, 2011

Ras Lanuf and Brega, two major oil ports in eastern Libya, have been closed as pro-regime forces intensify attacks on the revolutionary forces.

Embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi's warplanes have launched fresh airstrikes on anti-regime positions around the port city of Ras Lanuf, Reuters reported late Monday.

Reports say at least three people have been killed in the attacks. The violence resulted in the closure of two oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Brega.

"Ras Lanuf is not operating. It's the same in Brega," an official in a shipping company in Ras Lanuf said.

The revolutionary forces have begun pulling back from Ras Lanuf and the nearby city of Ben Jawad after the regime resorted to heavy use of air attacks.

According to an anti-government official, beleaguered Gaddafi could attack oilfields like a "wounded wolf."

Meanwhile, reports say fighting erupted in the Libyan city of Zawiyah as forces loyal to the incumbent ruler launched a renewed attempt to capture the city.

Three of the revolutionary forces and over 30 pro-Gaddafi soldiers lost their lives in the clashes.

Earlier on Sunday, Gaddafi's tanks shelled the civilian population in the western city of Misratah. According to medics, at least 21 people, most of them unarmed civilians, were killed in the clashes.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168784.html.