(Reuters) - A Libyan navy ship was hit and 13 people killed during heavy fighting with aircraft and tanks on Monday between the army and Islamist militants near the port of Benghazi, residents of the Mediterranean city said.Its off the front pages but the world continues to burn. What seemed to be just another run of the mill insurgency is taking on the look of the fighting in Ukraine, with almost conventional style forces engaging in combat.
The battle was part of a wider conflict in the North African state where former rebels who helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 are fighting for power and a share of Libya's large oil revenues.
Army special forces, backed by troops of an ex-general, launched an offensive in the Benghazi area two weeks ago against Islamist militants blamed by Washington for a 2012 assault on the former U.S. consulate which killed the American ambassador.
The Red Crescent evacuated 53 foreign workers and 14 sick people trapped inside a hospital next to the port, medics said, while the army moved more tanks and artillery into the city.
A Reuters reporter could see smoke rising from the port, an important conduit for food, wheat and fuel supplies to eastern Libya. A security source said the unidentified navy ship was sinking but this could not immediately be confirmed.
All this and yet gas prices continue to fall.
How do you explain it? Where is all this excess capacity coming from?
UPDATE: Fox Business is speculating that the Saudi's are trying to kill the shale oil boom in the US. They fear both the US becoming energy independent AND a competitor on the global market. It makes sense but that would mean that this shaky ally is actually attempting to hurt our economic interests. That takes them from shaky ally to outright enemy.
