By Mohamed Husain.
Tobruk, 1 April 2015:
An end to the hostilities near Sidra oil terminal following the decision by Operation Sunrise to . . .[restrict]withdraw its forces there to last week and refocus on the fight against the Islamic State in Sirte has resulted in LNA troops from Tobruk standing down and returning home.
The men from Brigade 415 (Shuhada Al-Nadurah) which had been temprarily based between Sidra and Brega took part in a homecoming ceremony In Tobruk’s Martyrs’ Square on Monday at which local civil society activist Kamal Awad congratulated them for protecting the oil terminals and fields.
The force was prepared to protect every Libyan town and city, he declared, if asked to do so by the House of Representatives.
Operation Sunrise forces pulled back from Sidra to near Sirte a week ago, following a deal with the Petroleum Facilities Guards. They first attacked the oil terminal there in December. In the intervening three months, before the clashes reached stalemate, well over a hundred fighters from both sides were reported killed and one and a half million barrels of oil lost as a result of oil tanks being set ablaze. [/restrict]
