Dbeibahs’ Residence in Libyan Capital Targeted with RPGs, No Casualties Reported

Head of Libya’s interim Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah. (Reuters file photo)
Head of Libya’s interim Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah. (Reuters file photo)
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Dbeibahs’ Residence in Libyan Capital Targeted with RPGs, No Casualties Reported

Head of Libya’s interim Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah. (Reuters file photo)
Head of Libya’s interim Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah. (Reuters file photo)

The residence of head of Libya’s interim Government of National Unity (GNU) Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah was targeted with rocket-propelled grenades on Sunday in an attack that left no casualties, a Libyan minister told Reuters.

The minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed in a message that the attack only caused some damage. The minister has not disclosed any further details.

Two citizens said they had heard massive explosions near the sea in Tripoli's luxury Hay Andalus neighborhood, the home to Dbeibah's residence.

A citizen said that after the massive explosions were heard, heavy security forces with their vehicles were deployed around the area.

Libya has had little peace or stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising, and split in 2014 between eastern and western factions, with rival administrations governing each area.

The GNU was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021 but the parliament, in the east, stopped recognizing its legitimacy at the end of that year after a failed attempt to hold national elections, which led to prolonged political deadlock.

Early in March, three key leaders said they agreed on the "necessity" of forming a new unified government that would supervise long-delayed elections.

Dbeibah has vowed not to cede power to a new government without national elections.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.