Senussi Denies Involvement in Killing of ‘February 17’ Protesters in Libya 

Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters file photo)
Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters file photo)
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Senussi Denies Involvement in Killing of ‘February 17’ Protesters in Libya 

Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters file photo)
Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (Reuters file photo)

Abdullah al-Senussi, former head of military intelligence under late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi, denied on Monday charges that he was involved in the killing and quelling of protests during the February 17, 2011 revolution that toppled Gaddafi.

Senussi appeared before an appellate court in the capital Tripoli where “he faced over 25 charges, including the killing of protesters,” said his lawyer Ahmad Nashad.

Nashad told Asharq Al-Awsat that Senussi denied all the charges during the hearing that lasted four and a half hours.

The court listened to Senussi’s defense and later, he recalled the conditions of his arrest and current health situation, he added.

Senussi, 73, was seen as one of the most powerful figures in the Gaddafi regime. He was married to Gaddafi's sister-in-law and part of his inner circle.

Senussi’s court appearance had been delayed 13 times because of the opposition of the Special Deterrence Force militia. He has been held in Mitiga prison in Tripoli.

His supporters believe he is being held “hostage”, claiming his jailors worry that he will gain popular support as soon as he is released from prison.

Nashad said the hearing was adjourned to February 5 when it will listen to the defense of the remaining accused.

Senussi was sentenced to death in 2015 after he was accused of quelling the February 17 protests. In 2019, he was acquitted by a Tripoli court, but the supreme court overruled the decision and the case is being handled by another court.

Senussi’s Magarha tribe said it was optimistic after Monday’s court appearance.

Sheikh Haroun Arhouma, a tribal leader, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Senussi has heart problems and is suffering from liver cancer.

“We will hold Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah's government responsible for any harm that may befall him,” he warned.

Dbeibah is head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU).

“We will await the outcome of next week’s court session. We will welcome any good news, but we will take action if the outcome does not please us,” said Sheikh Haroun without elaborating.

“We control the oil and gas wells, as well as the water pipelines in the South. We will make our response heard. The western regions don’t boast oil or war,” he remarked.



Israel Says Rockets Fired from Syria for the First Time Since Bashar Assad’s Fall 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel Says Rockets Fired from Syria for the First Time Since Bashar Assad’s Fall 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)

The Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, marking the first time a strike has been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Syrian state media reported that Israel shelled the western countryside of Syria’s Daraa province after the rocket launch. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, also reported Israeli airstrikes that caused “violent explosions” around the city of Quneitra and in the Daraa countryside.

A group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigades — named after a Hamas military leader killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza last year — claimed the attack in a post on Telegram. The group first surfaced on social media a few days before.

“Until now, it’s just a Telegram channel. It’s not known if it is a real group,” said Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher who has studied armed factions in southern Syria.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Israel considers “the Syrian president directly responsible for every threat and firing toward the State of Israel” and warned of a “full response” to come “as soon as possible.”

Israel has been suspicious of the former opposition fighters who formed the new Syrian government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syria and seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory since Assad’s fall.

Syria’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run TV channel that it has “not yet verified the accuracy” of the reports of strikes launched from Syria toward Israel.

“We affirm that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region,” the statement said. It condemned the Israeli shelling, which it said had resulted in “significant human and material losses.”

The US, which has warmed to al-Sharaa's government and recently moved to lift some sanctions previously imposed on Syria, has pushed for Syria to normalize relations with Israel.

In a recent interview with the Jewish Journal, al-Sharaa said he wants to see a return to a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries but stopped short of proposing immediate normalization, saying that “peace must be earned through mutual respect, not fear.”