Libyan official: Sarraj opposes oil deal with rival Haftar

Libyan official: Sarraj opposes oil deal with rival Haftar

Libyan officials said Saturday that the leader of the U.N.-supported government would not support a deal with his primary rival in the country's civil war to lift a months-long blockade on its vital oil trade.

According to an official at his office, Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj opposed the final deal struck with Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar, whose east-based forces led a failed year-long siege to take the capital, Tripoli, from the U.N.-backed government.

"The prime minister did not give his approval to the final version of the deal,'' the official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Haftar said in a televised address Friday that his forces would allow the Libyan oil facilities to start operating again for the first time since January ``with