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Libya's LNA Launches Operation Near Southern Border after Chad Clashes

Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari. (AFP file photo)
Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari. (AFP file photo)
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Libya's LNA Launches Operation Near Southern Border after Chad Clashes

Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari. (AFP file photo)
Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari. (AFP file photo)

Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) has launched a military operation to secure the southern border, it said on Friday, after fighting near the area resumed between the government of Chad and a rebel group trying to unseat it.

Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Deby said on Sunday that the army was again fighting the Libya-based Chadian Front for Change and Concord (FACT) group, which quit a ceasefire last week amid clashes.

LNA spokesperson Ahmed al-Mismari said the operation would involve land and air forces. An LNA media unit distributed photographs of Haftar's son, Saddam Haftar, overseeing the operation with other LNA officers.

The media unit said the LNA had expelled members of the Chadian opposition and their families from a residential area they were using in a desert town 300km (200 miles) north of the border with Chad.

Libya has had little internal peace or security since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Moammar al-Gaddafi, and its southern desert border has become a major transit route for trafficking networks.

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Lebanon Will Extend Army’s Control over Whole Country, Aoun Says as he Meets Macron

France's President Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (R) and Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun shake hands after a press conference at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on March 28, 2025. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (R) and Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun shake hands after a press conference at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on March 28, 2025. (AFP)
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Lebanon Will Extend Army’s Control over Whole Country, Aoun Says as he Meets Macron

France's President Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (R) and Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun shake hands after a press conference at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on March 28, 2025. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (R) and Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun shake hands after a press conference at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on March 28, 2025. (AFP)

Lebanon is determined to build its army and extend its control over the whole country to end a cycle of violence, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Friday following an Israeli strike on Beirut.

"We reject any attack on Lebanon or any suspicious, malicious attempt to return Lebanon to the cycle of violence," Aoun told a joint press conference with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

"I call on Lebanon’s friends to act quickly to stop the deterioration and help Lebanon implement international resolutions," Aoun said.

"What is happening increases our determination and commitment to build our country and army, and extend our control over all of our lands."

Israel on Friday carried out its first major airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs in months, retaliating for an earlier rocket launch from Lebanon in the most serious test of a shaky ceasefire deal agreed in November.

Macron said that there was no activity justifying Israel's "unacceptable strikes on Beirut" and that he would call US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the attacks.

Macron said the renewed tensions "mark a turning point."

"The framework agreed upon by Lebanon and Israel was not respected today by Israel unilaterally and without us having either information or proof of the triggering event," he added.

Macron and Aoun met to discuss economic reforms and efforts to stabilize Lebanon.

France will continue to be at Lebanon’s side to help it preserve its sovereignty and guarantee its security, Macron vowed.

"This is what we want to do alongside you in the south. This is also what we want to do on the border with Syria, where the situation is also extremely delicate," he said.