Fezzan Revolutionary Force Closes Libya's Southern Borders Over LNA's Alleged Siege of Qatrun

The Fezzan Revolutionary Force, a group widely assumed to represent or be affiliated with the Tebu community in southern Libya, announced on Friday, September 12, 2026 the immediate closure of Libya's southern borders to all truck and commercial transport, declaring the border areas a 'closed military zone' in response to what it calls a Libyan National Army (LNA) siege of Qatrun. The crisis traces to Thursday, September 3, 2026, when a Tebu teenager, Hussein Youssif Ibrahim, was shot dead at a Qatrun fuel station in what residents blame on the LNA's Rapid Intervention Battalion (RIB-87), a unit analysts regard as Saddam Haftar's special force; the killing triggered an attack on the RIB-87 barracks with RPGs and rifles that killed a second Tebu resident, Ahmed Ali Gadeno, before mediation by Tebu Council of Elders head Allahouza Fowzi defused the immediate clash. Tensions reignited September 9-10 when Saddam Haftar's forces conducted house raids and arrests, detaining roughly 23 Tebu residents including General Mahmoud Ibrahim, head of Qatrun's Libyan Intelligence Services branch. The Fezzan Revolutionary Force alleges LNA units have since halted fuel and cooking-gas deliveries to starve the town, and that Al-Madar and Libyana mobile networks are cut and Starlink service jammed in Qatrun. LNA commander Khalid Haftar visited the town and ordered all forces, including his brother Saddam's, to withdraw and leave only Interior Ministry and internal security personnel — a move that has not resolved the standoff. No statement has been issued by the GNU, GNS, or the LNA high command addressing the killings or the border closure.