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Libya Says Rome Lifts Civil Aviation Ban in Italian Airspace

A handout photo made available by Palazzo Chigi shows Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attending a press conference following a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the Royal Baths Park in Warsaw, Poland, 05 July 2023. (EPA)
A handout photo made available by Palazzo Chigi shows Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attending a press conference following a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the Royal Baths Park in Warsaw, Poland, 05 July 2023. (EPA)
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Libya Says Rome Lifts Civil Aviation Ban in Italian Airspace

A handout photo made available by Palazzo Chigi shows Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attending a press conference following a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the Royal Baths Park in Warsaw, Poland, 05 July 2023. (EPA)
A handout photo made available by Palazzo Chigi shows Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attending a press conference following a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the Royal Baths Park in Warsaw, Poland, 05 July 2023. (EPA)

Italy has lifted a 10-year-long ban on Libyan civil aviation using Italian airspace, with flights due to resume from September, the Libyan government said on Sunday. 

There are currently few airlines operating flights in and out of Libya, a country that has suffered more than a decade of chaos and conflict since Moammar al-Gaddafi's downfall in 2011. 

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni informed head of the Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah of the decision on Sunday, the GNU said in a statement. 

The decision was announced after a meeting between Libyan and Italian officials and after technical teams from both sides had discussed the results of a field visit in May related "to checking safety procedures at Libyan airports", it said. 

Flights out of Libya have long been limited to destinations such as Tunisia, Jordan, Türkiye, Egypt and Sudan, with the European Union banning Libyan civil aviation from its airspace. 

Libyan and Italian authorities agreed that flights would be operated by one carrier from each country, the statement said.  

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Türkiye Has No ‘Secret Agenda’ in Syria, Minister Says

Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan addresses the audience during a press briefing meeting to review the past year and to share insights regarding regional and global developments in Istanbul, on January 10, 2025. (AFP)
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan addresses the audience during a press briefing meeting to review the past year and to share insights regarding regional and global developments in Istanbul, on January 10, 2025. (AFP)
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Türkiye Has No ‘Secret Agenda’ in Syria, Minister Says

Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan addresses the audience during a press briefing meeting to review the past year and to share insights regarding regional and global developments in Istanbul, on January 10, 2025. (AFP)
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan addresses the audience during a press briefing meeting to review the past year and to share insights regarding regional and global developments in Istanbul, on January 10, 2025. (AFP)

Türkiye “does not have any secret agenda” in Syria and wants to construct a “new culture of cooperation,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Friday.

One of Türkiye’s priorities in the upcoming year is to clear the region of terrorism, Fidan said, referring to Kurdish militants based in northeast Syria. “The extensions of the separatist group in Syria are now facing destruction and the old order is no longer going to continue,” he told a news conference in Istanbul.

Fidan also criticized the United States’ support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, as the US seeks to prevent a revival of the ISIS group.

“This kills the spirit of alliance and solidarity,” Fidan said. He said Türkiye is “not going to shy away from taking the necessary steps” in terms of military action.

Türkiye views the SDF as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by Türkiye and other states.

Referring to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s comments that US troops should stay in Syria, Fidan dismissed the views of the outgoing US administration. “This is the problem of the new government and the old government does not have a say in this,” he said.

The SDF is currently involved in fighting the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.

Fidan also backed suggestions for Syrian Kurds to join a new national military but said all non-Syrians fighting for the SDF — a reference to those with ties to the PKK — should leave the country.