Tripoli, Libya | AFP | The smell of gunpowder still lingered in the battle-scarred south of Libya’s capital when Hicham Suleiman, a teacher in his 50s, cautiously returned to his home. He left his car some 400 metres (yards) from his house and continued on foot, anxious about booby traps hidden …
Read More »Ex-head of Libya’s anti-Kadhafi revolt dies of coronavirus
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Mahmud Jibril, the former head of the Libyan rebel government that overthrew dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, died Sunday of the coronavirus, his party said. Jibril, 68, died in Cairo where he had been hospitalised for two weeks, said Khaled al-Mrimi, secretary of the Alliance of …
Read More »Libya marks year of fighting, fears worse to come
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | While the world is gripped by the coronavirus pandemic, war-shattered Libya marks one year Saturday of its latest bloody conflict that is plunging it ever deeper into chaos. Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and others have fuelled the fighting in the oil-rich but poverty-stricken North …
Read More »Libya’s UN-backed government suspends participation in Geneva talks
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya’s unity government announced late Tuesday it would halt its participation in UN talks aimed at brokering a lasting ceasefire in the war-torn country where a fragile truce has been repeatedly violated. The pull-out came after a barrage of rocket fire hit a port in the …
Read More »Libyan state oil firm warns against export blockade
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya’s National Oil Company warned Friday against threats to block oil exports, the war-torn country’s main income source, two days before a Berlin conference aimed at relaunching a peace process. Tribes close to eastern Libya-based military strongman Khalifa Haftar had called for a blockade of coastal …
Read More »Libya strongman Haftar agrees ceasefire after calls from Kremlin, Ankara
Benghazi, Libya | AFP | Libyan strongman General Khalifa Haftar on Saturday announced a ceasefire in his months-long battle to control the capital Tripoli after calls for a truce from Russia and Turkey. The North African state has seen an escalation of the turmoil that erupted after a NATO-backed uprising killed …
Read More »Libya: advances by Haftar’s forces over five years
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces on Monday said they had taken control of Sirte, have in over five years conquered northeastern Libya and much of the south. After the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, Libya plunged into chaos with a …
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