Turkish Airlines Resumes Flights to Libya After 10-year Hiatus

A Turkish Airlines plane takes off from the city's new Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 6, 2019. (Reuters)
A Turkish Airlines plane takes off from the city's new Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 6, 2019. (Reuters)
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Turkish Airlines Resumes Flights to Libya After 10-year Hiatus

A Turkish Airlines plane takes off from the city's new Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 6, 2019. (Reuters)
A Turkish Airlines plane takes off from the city's new Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 6, 2019. (Reuters)

The Turkish Airlines launched on Thursday its first flight to Mitiga International Airport in the Libyan capital Tripoli, after a 10-year hiatus.
The Arab World Press said the announcement came on “Hakomitna,” the media platform of the interim Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Last week, Dbeibah said the Turkish Airlines would resume its flights to Libya after a hiatus of about ten years. He considered the return of Turkish flights as “an additional indicator of strengthening the state of stability in all its forms despite the challenges.”
“Alhamdulillah, Turkish Airlines will resume flights to Libya from next week after an absence of nearly 10 years,” Dbeibah wrote on his social media account last Saturday.
He then praised the efforts of the transportation and civil aviation sector, and everyone who contributed to facilitating air transport movement, as well as achieving the technical requirements for the return of major companies to the country.
Turkish Airlines' General Manager Bilal Ekşi announced in a press conference that the company would fly three flights per week to Mitiga Airport in the Libyan capital.

 

 



Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.