Drone strikes, intelligence chief’s killing expose Libya’s fragile balance – analysis

Libya is experiencing renewed instability following drone strikes on energy facilities in the west and the assassination of a senior intelligence official in the east. On August 10, Major-General Fawzi al-Mansouri, head of military intelligence for Khalifa Haftar's eastern forces, was killed in Benghazi by an explosive device. Concurrently, drone attacks targeted energy facilities in Zawiya from August 9-11, hitting a gasoline storage tank at the Zawiya oil complex and later a substation, causing widespread outages and disrupting operations at Libya's largest refinery. While no connection between the events has been established, analysts suggest these incidents could be part of a broader struggle for influence ahead of potential political negotiations, aimed at restructuring Libya's political and security landscape. Misbah Omar, an analyst, stated, "what we are witnessing may represent an initial phase in the restructuring of Libya's political and security landscape." These developments occur as the US attempts to broker institutional reunification and economic cooperation between the rival eastern and western authorities.