Libyan Amazigh Threaten Dbeibeh with War, Taking Control of Ras Ajdir

A former meeting between the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, and Abdulhamid Dbeibeh (Libyan Presidential Council)
A former meeting between the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, and Abdulhamid Dbeibeh (Libyan Presidential Council)
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Libyan Amazigh Threaten Dbeibeh with War, Taking Control of Ras Ajdir

A former meeting between the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, and Abdulhamid Dbeibeh (Libyan Presidential Council)
A former meeting between the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, and Abdulhamid Dbeibeh (Libyan Presidential Council)

No military vehicles to the forces loyal to the interim unity Libyan government are allowed to move to the west of the country, the head of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohammed al-Menfi, has announced.

Menfi sought on Saturday to contain sudden military tensions in the country after the Libyan Amazigh Supreme Council accused the unity government chaired by Abdulhamid Dbeibeh of "gathering armed formations to attack Ras Ajdir” border crossing with Tunisia.

Menfi, who is also the Supreme Commander of the Libyan Army, demanded the military units affiliated with Dbeibeh "not to move towards the West," ordering all militants who left Tripoli to return to their headquarters.

In the letter leaked to local media, he required unit commanders to follow orders and implement them as soon as possible, calling on the Army Chief of Staff and the Military Intelligence Department to take legal action against any violating unit.

Earlier, tensions arose between Dbeibeh and the Amazigh Council president, al-Hadi Barqiq, after the latter called on the unity government to "immediately dissolve and withdraw the joint operations room."

Barqiq called on all parties to demonstrate a patriotic spirit, warning against "any military action that would drag the region into unpredicted actions."

He also warned against reaching "a point of no return," describing the situation as an "existential conflict," especially since the constitution does not guarantee the rights of the Amazigh, who were not well represented.

The statement of the Libyan Amazigh Supreme Council, which named Dbeibeh as the head of the outgoing caretaker government, cautioned anyone against attacking Zuwara or its affiliated cities.

It warned that any military development could lead to a fierce war that would end the Amazigh's presence.

It indicated that the Amazigh are living in a state of security instability in light of the collapse of the Libyan economy, adding that they were surprised by Dbeibeh's attempt to gather armed formations to attack Ras Ajdir under false and malicious, baseless pretexts.

On Friday, the Amazigh civil and military components declared a state of emergency and maximum mobilization among all military battalions, positioning them along the Zuwara area.

According to the Amazigh Channel, the first military convoy of the Nalut Military Council entered Ras Ajdir, and other forces will be stationed inside Zuwara.

Local reports monitored a sudden disruption of the traffic system at the Ras Ajdir crossing on the Libyan side.

Dbeibeh ignored these developments while attending the North African International Conference for Ports and Free Zones in Misurata.

He stressed that port development and infrastructure development are one of the government's priorities.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior of the unity government began its "official control and monitoring over the Libyan border with Tunisia," announced Minister Imad Trabelsi.

Trabelsi warned that any illegal immigrant would be returned to his country, asserting that any migrant entering Libya and benefitting from its resources must arrive legally. He said that Dbeibeh advised him to refuse resettlement.

During his visit on Friday evening to the headquarters of the Anti-Illegal Migration Agency, Trabelsi confirmed that the agency's employees have significant responsibilities to limit illegal immigration, which caused huge debts due to the provision of shelter and deportation of those arrested.

Libya is set to host a two-conference on legal migration, entitled "Safe Mediterranean, Stable South," which will take place on Nov. 27 in Tripoli, with the participation of labor ministers from the Sahel and Sahara countries.



Iran Missile Fire Kills 3 Palestinians in West Bank, Foreign Worker in Israel

Iranian missiles fly towards Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
Iranian missiles fly towards Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
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Iran Missile Fire Kills 3 Palestinians in West Bank, Foreign Worker in Israel

Iranian missiles fly towards Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
Iranian missiles fly towards Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 18, 2026. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma

Iranian missile attacks have killed three Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank and a foreign worker in central Israel, medics said Thursday.

Falling shrapnel struck a hair salon in the West Bank town of Beit Awa near Hebron late Wednesday, killing the three women, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, marking the first Palestinian deaths from Iranian attacks in the ongoing Middle East war.

The victims include 17-year-old Mays Ghazi Masalmeh, according to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

The Red Crescent said at least eight others were wounded, including one woman in critical condition.

Wafa reported that the salon had been set up in a metal caravan next to a house.

AFP images showed civil defense workers inside the caravan, whose roof appeared to be punctured by the falling munition. A rug and bed sheets were covered in blood.

The news agency said missile fragments landed in multiple locations across the West Bank, including within the city of Hebron, after Israel's military reported another round of Iranian missile launches.

A short while later, Israeli medics said Iranian missile fire had killed a man in central Israel, bringing the death toll in Israel from attacks during the ongoing war to 15.

Israel's Magen David Adom medical emergency service described the victim as a "foreign worker", with Israeli media reports saying he was a Thai national working in agriculture.

Thailand's foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday the death of a Thai agricultural worker, citing information from Israeli officials.

He was killed in Moshav Adanim, a town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Tel Aviv and less than eight kilometers from the West Bank, according to the Israeli medical service.

A statement from Magen David Adom quoted its medic Idan Shina as saying "metal shrapnel was scattered across the scene", where the man was found dead with "severe shrapnel injuries".

The Israeli military earlier said it had identified a round of missile fire from Iran, which it was "operating to intercept".

Since that attack, the military reported several more waves of Iranian attacks, triggering air raid alerts across parts of central and northern Israel as well as in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had launched missiles and drones at targets across Israel, according to a statement carried by Iranian news agencies Fars and ISNA.

Israeli media said some of the overnight barrages saw the use of cluster munitions, which explode mid-air and scatter bomblets across a wide area.

Iran and Israel have previously accused each other of using cluster bombs.


Israel Ramps up Qassam Killings in Gaza for Fourth Consecutive Day

 Palestinian policemen inspect a vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 16, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinian policemen inspect a vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 16, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Ramps up Qassam Killings in Gaza for Fourth Consecutive Day

 Palestinian policemen inspect a vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 16, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinian policemen inspect a vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 16, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel has stepped up targeted killings of fighters in Gaza for a fourth day in a row, zeroing in on field commanders in the military wings of Palestinian factions, particularly the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, across the north and south of the enclave.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military used a suicide drone to strike a tent in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, killing Mohammed Abu Shahla, a senior field commander in the Khan Younis brigade and its intelligence chief.

A field source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abu Shahla was “the third-ranking figure in the eastern Khan Younis area” and a key figure within the Qassam Brigades due to his military and security experience.

Several civilians were wounded in the strike.

A day earlier, an Israeli drone hit a vehicle carrying Yahya Abu Labda, a Qassam Brigades field commander responsible for logistics and supply in Khan Younis. He was killed along with two others nearby.

Field sources said Abu Labda had also been active in humanitarian work, overseeing projects to establish camps for displaced people and deliver aid. He had received substantial donations from abroad, “which may have contributed to Israel accelerating his targeting,” the sources said.

On Monday, an Israeli drone strike killed Younis Alyan, a field commander in the northern brigade of the Qassam Brigades, firing a single missile that killed him instantly.

The Israeli military said Alyan was in charge of the brigade’s naval force and had led a series of attacks.

Sources within the Qassam Brigades told Asharq Al-Awsat that Alyan had recently been tasked with reorganizing the group’s structure in western Jabalia and had held several roles during and before the war.

On Sunday, an Israeli strike killed seven Hamas police members in a vehicle in the Zawayda area in central Gaza. It later emerged that one of them, Iyad Abu Youssef, was a Qassam Brigades field commander who also served as a Hamas police officer.

According to an Asharq Al-Awsat tally, at least seven field commanders, including company commanders and deputy battalion commanders, have been killed in the past two weeks, among them Alyan, Abu Labda, and Abu Shahla, along with other fighters.

The escalation in Gaza coincided with Israeli killings of two Hamas operatives in Lebanon. One, Wissam Taha, was killed in Sidon and described by the Israeli military as part of a financial network supporting the group. The other, Walid Deeb, was a Hamas official in Lebanon’s refugee camps.

Armed groups backed by Israel have mirrored the campaign. On Tuesday, gunmen tried to kill a Qassam Brigades operative in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Two assailants opened fire inside a supermarket using a silenced weapon, seriously wounding him before fleeing toward Israeli-controlled areas.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that members of these groups had received advanced training at Israeli military sites and now possess weapons and drones, and are being trained to use them against Hamas operatives.

The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said it had recorded 2,073 violations of a ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10. These included 750 shooting incidents, 87 incursions, 973 bombardments and 263 demolitions of homes and buildings.

The violations have killed more than 677 people, including 305 children and women, wounded 1,813 and led to 50 arrests.


Israel Army Chief Says West Bank Settler Attacks ‘Ethically Unacceptable’

New settlements near Abu Falah village, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
New settlements near Abu Falah village, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Army Chief Says West Bank Settler Attacks ‘Ethically Unacceptable’

New settlements near Abu Falah village, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
New settlements near Abu Falah village, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel's military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on Wednesday criticized a recent rise in settler attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, calling the violence against troops and civilians "morally and ethically unacceptable".

At least six Palestinians have been killed in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank since the start of March, according to an AFP tally.

"Recently there has been an increase in nationalist crime incidents, some of which are directed against our troops and toward civilian populations," Zamir said, referring to Palestinians living in the territory, as he visited the Central Command.

"It is unacceptable that during a multi-front war the Israeli army is forced to confront a threatening minority from within," he said, adding that the attackers "do not represent the wider population."

"I call on all authorities in the country to act against this phenomenon and stop it before it is too late," he said, in a statement issued by the military.

"Anyone who believes these actions contribute to security is mistaken -- they are morally and ethically unacceptable and cause extraordinary strategic damage to the efforts of the army," he said.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war. It has continued despite the ceasefire and spiked since the start of the war against Iran.

Alongside roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

While most Israeli settlers do not engage in violence, a small but militant fringe has been linked to attacks on Palestinians.

According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,050 Palestinians -- many of them gunmen, but also scores of civilians -- in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.

Official Israeli figures say that 45 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have also been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations.

The current Israeli government, considered one of the most right-wing in the country's history, has fast-tracked settlement expansion and recognized some outposts.