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Libya Central Bank Governor, Other Bankers Flee to Avoid Militias

A picture shows a view of Libya's Central Bank headquarters in Tripoli on August 27, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
A picture shows a view of Libya's Central Bank headquarters in Tripoli on August 27, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Libya Central Bank Governor, Other Bankers Flee to Avoid Militias

A picture shows a view of Libya's Central Bank headquarters in Tripoli on August 27, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
A picture shows a view of Libya's Central Bank headquarters in Tripoli on August 27, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Libya's central bank governor Sadiq al-Kabir said he and other senior bank staff had been forced to leave the country to "protect our lives" from potential attacks by armed militia, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
"Militias are threatening and terrifying bank staff and are sometimes abducting their children and relatives to force them to go to work," Kabir told the newspaper via telephone.
He also said attempts by interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah to replace him were illegal, and contravened UN negotiated accords on control of the central bank.
The crisis over the control of the Central Bank of Libya creates yet another level of instability in the oil producing country.
The UN Support Mission in Libya early this week called for the suspension of unilateral decisions, the lifting of force majeure on oil fields, the halting of escalations and use of force, and the protection of central bank employees.

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Hezbollah Chief Pledges to Coordinate with Lebanese Army to Implement Truce

A view of the destruction in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 29 November 2024. (EPA)
A view of the destruction in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 29 November 2024. (EPA)
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Hezbollah Chief Pledges to Coordinate with Lebanese Army to Implement Truce

A view of the destruction in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 29 November 2024. (EPA)
A view of the destruction in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 29 November 2024. (EPA)

The head of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, pledged on Friday to coordinate closely with the Lebanese army to implement a ceasefire deal with Israel, which he said his group had agreed to "with heads held high".

It was his first address since a ceasefire came into effect on Wednesday after more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel that decimated swathes of Lebanon and killed 4,000 people including hundreds of women and children.

Qassem said Hezbollah had "approved the deal, with the resistance strong in the battlefield, and our heads held high with our right to defend (ourselves)."

The ceasefire stipulates that Hezbollah will withdraw from areas south of the Litani river, which runs some 30 km (20 miles) north of the border with Israel, and that the Lebanese army will deploy troops there as Israeli ground troops withdraw.

"There will be high-level coordination between the Resistance (Hezbollah) and the Lebanese army to implement the commitments of the deal," Qassem said.

The Lebanese army has already sent additional troops to the south but is preparing a detailed deployment plan to share with Lebanon's cabinet, security sources and officials have said.

That effort has been complicated by the continuing presence of Israeli troops on Lebanese territory. The deal grants them a full 60 days to complete their withdrawal.

The Israeli military has issued restrictions on people returning to villages along Lebanon's border with Israel and has fired at people in those villages in recent days, calling those movements a violation of the truce.

Both the Lebanese army and Hezbollah have accused Israel of breaching the ceasefire in those instances, and by launching an airstrike above the Litani River on Thursday.

Qassem said the group had scored a "divine victory" against Israel even greater than that declared after the two foes last fought in 2006.

"To those that were betting that Hezbollah would be weakened, we are sorry, their bets have failed," he said.