A gunfight between armed militias erupted in the western Libyan city of Zawiya on Sunday, trapping residents in their homes and sparking fires at the country's second-largest oil refinery, local officials reported.
The fighting forced the closure of schools and a major coastal road, according to residents, who said the clash was between fighters from a Shurafa tribal militia and forces pledged to warlord Mohamed Kushlaf, head of the Shuhada al Nasr brigade.
Kushlaf uses the refinery as a base for major human trafficking operations, according to the UN, which describes him as "one of the most dominant" smugglers in Libya, dealing in both "migrants" and "sex slaves." He has been under UN Security Council sanctions since 2018.
The state-owned Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) reported that bullets severely damaged storage tanks, causing fires and gas leaks.
NOC noted that emergency personnel eventually put out the flames, but the conditions forced the company to call a state of emergency, allowing it to abandon its contractual obligations.
Since the 2011 uprising and NATO-backed intervention that toppled longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has been in chaos, split into rival administrations in the east and west.
While the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has worked to repair the economy and oil revenues through state-building reforms, these directives, which include efforts to quash illicit market activities like trafficking, are often undermined by the erratic violence endemic to the country's "Conflict Economy," as defined by London-based think tank Chatham House.