Ezzawiya

Ezzawiya (also spelled Az-Zawiyah or Zawiya) is a port city in northwestern Libya, located approximately 50 km west of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast. It is home to one of Libya's largest oil refineries and has been a contested zone since the 2011 civil war, with shifting control between militias aligned with the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU). Its port facilities and proximity to open Mediterranean waters make it strategically significant for maritime operations.

An RFI investigation published 4 April 2026 revealed that Ukraine operates a drone launch facility at Ezzawiya port, from which Magura V5 autonomous surface drones are deployed against Russian shipping in the Mediterranean. On 4 March 2026, a Magura V5 launched from Ezzawiya struck and disabled the Russian LNG carrier Arctic Metagaz, carrying 60,000 tonnes of LNG toward Egypt, approximately 277 metres long, in the open Mediterranean between Malta and Sirte.

Ezzawiya's transformation from a contested refinery town into a forward naval drone base illustrates the Ukraine war's unconventional geographic spread. Operating from Libyan soil gives Ukraine plausible operational distance from its own territory and access to Mediterranean sea lanes that landlocked Ukrainian ports cannot reach. The base complicates Russia's ability to route sanctioned energy cargoes through the Mediterranean and signals that the naval campaign against Russian shipping is no longer confined to the Black Sea.