ZAWIYA, Libya — A drone attack on a power substation in the western Libyan city of Zawiya caused a major outage on Wednesday, disrupting electricity supplies across areas south of the city, the state electricity company said.
The General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) said the attack on the South Zawiya substation caused a complete loss of power supply to wide areas. The company did not identify those responsible for the attack, and no group has claimed responsibility.
The strike was the latest in a series of attacks on critical energy infrastructure in and around Zawiya, a strategic coastal city about 40 km west of Tripoli. Earlier drone attacks targeted fuel storage facilities at the nearby Zawiya oil complex, home to Libya's largest operating refinery.
The electricity disruption also affected the Zawiya power plant. GECOL said more than 700 megawatts of the plant's total 1,300 megawatts of generation capacity remained unavailable following the attack. U.S. company General Electric, which is involved in work at the plant, suspended operations and withdrew its technical teams, citing security concerns, according to GECOL.
The attacks come as Libya's electricity network faces persistent strain. Power cuts have affected parts of the country for weeks during the summer, with residents in several cities experiencing prolonged outages. Protests over electricity shortages were reported in Tripoli and other parts of western Libya in late July.
The latest violence has also raised concerns about Libya's oil sector. The National Oil Corporation has warned that continued attacks on energy infrastructure in Zawiya could force it to declare force majeure and suspend operations at the oil complex.
Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah has condemned the attacks on Zawiya's energy infrastructure and called for those responsible to be held accountable, while authorities have not publicly established who carried out the drone strikes.
Libya has remained politically divided between rival administrations and armed groups since the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. Zawiya, a major energy hub west of Tripoli, has repeatedly been affected by armed violence.
GECOL said the outage was being addressed as security conditions allowed technical teams to work on the damaged infrastructure. No casualties were reported in connection with the substation attack in the latest official accounts.
