Free Republic

CAIRO: Libya’s Islamist militias said Sunday they have consolidated their hold on Tripoli and its international airport, driving out rival militias to the outskirts of the capital following a weekslong battle for control of the strategic hub. ...

The U.S. Embassy in Libya evacuated its personnel on Saturday because of ongoing militia violence in the capital, Tripoli, U.S. officials said. About 150 personnel, including 80 U.S. Marines were evacuated from the embassy in the early hours of Saturday morning and were driven across the border into Tunisia, U.S. officials confirm to CNN.

The son of the Libya’s Defence Minister, Abdullah Al-Thini, was abducted yesterday afternoon, ... He was kidnapped in Janzour, but the reasons behind the abduction are still unknown. ....

“We are currently witnessing the collapse of state in Libya, and the country is getting closer to local wars for oil revenues,” said the Swiss-based group Petromatrix. The country’s oil ministry said production has slumped to an average of 300,000 barrels per day (b/d) in August, down by more than four-fifths from its peak after the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime two years ago. “Militia groups are behaving like terrorists, using control over oil as political leverage to extract concessions,” said Dr Elizabeth Stephens, head of political risk at insurers Jardine Lloyd Thompson. Port closures and strikes have compounded the...

Libya's largest western oilfields closed when an armed group shut down the pipeline linking them to ports, its deputy oil minister said on Tuesday, reducing its oil output to a trickle. ...

(Reuters) - Gunmen have ended a siege of Libya's foreign and justice ministries but the two-week standoff has left many unresolved questions about the government's ability to impose its authority in the capital, let alone the restive east of the country. The episode heightened security concerns that prompted oil group BP, one of the biggest foreign companies active in Libya, to announce on Sunday it was withdrawing an unspecified number of employees from Tripoli. The U.S. and British governments had already pulled out some diplomats temporarily. In a separate development, two more police stations were attacked in Libya's eastern city...