Türkiye Condemns Israeli Attacks against UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon

FILE PHOTO: UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles are seen parked in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles are seen parked in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher/File Photo
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Türkiye Condemns Israeli Attacks against UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon

FILE PHOTO: UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles are seen parked in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicles are seen parked in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon August 9, 2024. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher/File Photo

Türkiye condemns Israel's attacks targeting the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon (UNIFIL), its foreign ministry said late on Thursday, adding Ankara would continue supporting similar peacekeeping initiatives and structures.
Israeli attacks against UNIFIL in recent days, amid the war in Gaza and the cross-border clashes with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, have wounded UN personnel and prompted international alarm.
In New York, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel recommends UNIFIL relocate north in Lebanon "to avoid danger as fighting intensifies".
"Israel's attacks on UN forces, following its massacres against civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon is a manifestation of its perception that its crimes go unpunished," Türkiye’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
"The international community is obliged to ensure that Israel abides by international law," it said, adding that Türkiye contributed to the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force with one corvette and five personnel.
Türkiye has been fiercely critical of Israel's offensives in Gaza and Lebanon. It has halted all trade with Israel, applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court, and repeatedly called for an end to Western support of Israel along with international measures to stop its assaults.



Libya's Eastern Parliament Approves Transitional Justice Law in Unity Move, MPs Say

Members of Libyan legislatures known as the High Council of State, based in Tripoli in the country's west, and the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east, meet for talks in Bouznika, Morocco, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Eljechtimi/File Photo
Members of Libyan legislatures known as the High Council of State, based in Tripoli in the country's west, and the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east, meet for talks in Bouznika, Morocco, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Eljechtimi/File Photo
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Libya's Eastern Parliament Approves Transitional Justice Law in Unity Move, MPs Say

Members of Libyan legislatures known as the High Council of State, based in Tripoli in the country's west, and the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east, meet for talks in Bouznika, Morocco, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Eljechtimi/File Photo
Members of Libyan legislatures known as the High Council of State, based in Tripoli in the country's west, and the House of Representatives, based in Benghazi in the east, meet for talks in Bouznika, Morocco, December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Eljechtimi/File Photo

Libya's eastern-based parliament has approved a national reconciliation and transitional justice law, three lawmakers said, a measure aimed at reunifying the oil-producing country after over a decade of factional conflict.

The House of Representatives (HoR) spokesperson, Abdullah Belaihaq, said on the X platform that the legislation was passed on Tuesday by a majority of the session's attendees in Libya's largest second city Benghazi.

However, implementing the law could be challenging as Libya has been divided since a 2014 civil war that spawned two rival administrations vying for power in east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

"I hope that it (the law) will be in effect all over the country and will not face any difficulty," House member Abdulmenam Alorafi told Reuters by phone on Wednesday.

The United Nations mission to Libya has repeatedly called for an inclusive, rights-based transitional justice and reconciliation process in the North African country.

A political process to end years of institutional division and outright warfare has been stalled since an election scheduled for December 2021 collapsed amid disputes over the eligibility of the main candidates.

In Tripoli, there is the Government of National Unity (GNU) under Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah that was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021, but the parliament no longer recognizes its legitimacy. Dbeibah has vowed not to cede power to a new government without national elections.

There are two competing legislative bodies - the HoR that was elected in 2014 as the national parliament with a four-year mandate to oversee a political transition, and the High Council of State in Tripoli formed as part of a 2015 political agreement and drawn from a parliament first elected in 2012.

The Tripoli-based Presidential Council, which came to power with GNU, has been working on a reconciliation project and holding "a comprehensive conference" with the support of the UN and African Union. But it has been unable to bring all rival groups together because of their continuing differences.