What happened

A series of drone strikes hit critical infrastructure around Zawiya over several days. Libya's National Oil Corporation said weekend strikes damaged a fuel tank and a desalination plant linked to the oil complex. On 10 August, a drone directly struck a gasoline-storage tank at the Zawiya refinery, igniting a major fire that burned overnight; the tank, which held 4.5 million litres of fuel, subsequently collapsed and the operator declared its maximum emergency level. While responders were fighting the blaze on 11 August, another drone landed near a key refinery tank without reported casualties. Two further drones struck Zawiya's power plant: one damaged its firefighting system and another landed close to the main fuel storage and started a fire that was quickly controlled. The National Oil Corporation said emergency and safety teams brought the fires under control earlier than expected by late 11 August, while separately warning it could declare force majeure at the Zawiya complex — which feeds the 300,000-bpd Sharara oilfield and represents a large share of Libya's 120,000-bpd refining capacity — if drone attacks on its energy assets continued. Early on 12 August, a further drone strike destroyed an electricity substation feeding the Zawiya power plant, cutting power to wide areas south of the city; Libya's General Electricity Company (Gecol) warned that continued attacks could trigger a partial or general grid blackout, and the Petroleum Facilities Guard said drone wreckage indicated fibre-optic-guided FPV drones. The Zawiya Municipal Council reported 18 people treated for smoke inhalation from the 12 August strike, with no fatalities. No group had claimed responsibility for any strike in the wave, and the public reporting did not establish an attacker, a complete refinery shutdown, a quantified production loss or pollution. This grouped marker represents the closely spaced attacks across the refinery, associated desalination facilities, power plant and substation rather than implying that every strike hit the same installation.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.