The Libyan government says that it will send special forces within a week to reclaim all of the country’s Eastern ports, currently under occupation by rebel forces, according to Reuters.
The announcement is the latest is a long line of claims and assertive rhetoric that has so far not been translated into action and has failed to end the 9 month occupation.
The conflict over oil wealth is increasing fears that Libya may slide deeper into chaos or even splinter as the fragile government fails to rein in dozens of militias that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy state authority.
The rebels, who have seized three ports and partly control a fourth in the OPEC member country, said they had dispatched forces to central Libya to deal with any government attack.
With tension between the two sides escalating, government forces seized a tanker that had loaded crude worth $30 million at the rebel-held Es Sider port.
The North Korea-flagged tanker was undamaged and being escorted to western Libya, culture minister and government spokesman Habib al Amin told Reuters.
“The government announces that the tanker is now under control of the navy and the revolutionary forces, and on its way to a port controlled by the government,” he said.
A spokesman for the rebels earlier denied they had lost control of the ship.
Even without any major military action, the escalation kills any hope of restoring oil exports soon. A wave of protests at oilfields and ports has reduced output to a trickle, undermining state authority as oil is the main revenue source supporting the budget and basic food imports.
The head of parliament, who has quasi-presidential powers, ordered the formation of a force made up of regular soldiers and allied militias to take back the ports, which previously handled a total of more than 700,000 barrels of oil per day.
The operation will start within one week, parliament head Nuri Ali Abu Sahmain said in a decree published by spokesman Omar Hmeidan.
“The force will be set up to liberate the ports and end the blockage,” Hmeidan told Reuters.
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, who said on Saturday the tanker, Morning Glory, would be bombed if it tried to export oil, is now in a much stronger position with the parliament throwing its weight behind military action.
