Cyrenaican desert campaign
| Cyrenaican Desert Campaign | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Libyan Civil War | |||||||
|
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Saleh Muhammad al-Zaruq Abdullah Aitha |
Belqasem Al-Abaaj | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 25 killed | At least 3 killed | ||||||
| 5 civilians killed | |||||||
Indecisive
The Cyrenaican desert campaign was a military campaign conducted by the Libyan military in the form of hit-and-run attacks against rebel-held towns and oil facilities in the eastern Libyan Desert that began in April 2011, during the Libyan Civil War. The campaign failed in denying anti-Gaddafi forces control of southern Cyrenaica.
On 3 April, the security chief for the Kufra region, Saleh Muhammad al-Zaruq, declared his, and his troops, support for the rebels and broke off from the Gaddafi government, taking control of the area.
On 4 April, loyalist forces blew up a crucial water pipeline near Jalu in an attempt to cut water supplies for rebel-held east Libya. However, during the process, they also inadvertently destroyed part of the pipeline system supplying west Libya as well as the east.
On 6 April, the Gaddafi government stated that a NATO air-strike on the Sarir oil field left three oil facility security guards dead. However, the rebels, which were already in control of the oil field per some reports, claimed that it was not a NATO but a loyalist ground attack.
On 21 April, a convoy of nine loyalist vehicles attacked the rebel-held al-Boster oil facility in the Libyan desert, about 300 kilometres (190 mi) south west of Tobruk. Eight of the nine rebels that were stationed at the pumping station were killed in the attack while the ninth managed to escape while seriously wounded.
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