Drone strike cuts power near Libya's Zawiya after electricity station destroyed

On Wednesday, a drone strike destroyed an electricity substation near Zawiya in western Libya, causing a significant power outage in surrounding areas, according to the national power company. The ongoing conflict between two militias affiliated with the Tripoli government has led to repeated drone attacks on Zawiya's energy infrastructure.

This was the sixth attack in five days, with the first to affect power supply. A previous attack on an adjacent generation station on Tuesday damaged a firefighting system but left the network intact. The General Electricity Company of Libya reported the entire substation was destroyed, with over 700 megawatts of the Zawiya power plant's 1,300MW capacity currently offline since June.

The company has withdrawn engineers for a second time, pending security guarantees, warning that continued attacks could lead to a partial or general blackout. Drone strikes have also targeted a naphtha, petrol, and diesel storage facility, an oil-blending plant, and a desalination plant at the Zawiya refinery, causing fires, but no casualties.

The Zawiya Municipal Council chief mentioned that 18 people sought treatment for smoke inhalation, while the refinery itself remained undamaged. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah condemned the attacks as a serious crime and an escalation, vowing no one's status would protect the perpetrators. The prime minister held a meeting with the Interior Minister and chiefs of several Tripoli armed groups to address the situation.

Much of western Libya is under the control of militias affiliated with the Tripoli government, which operate with significant autonomy. The fighting began following a drone strike that killed at least five fighters from the 103rd Battalion on August 4. Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who advocates for political and military unification of Libya's rival administrations, met with Dbeibah and his national security adviser on Tuesday.

Fidan is expected in Benghazi on Wednesday, following the assassination of the intelligence chief of the Libyan National Army, which has heightened concerns about further instability in the country.