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Libya’s Unity Government Moves Past Tripoli Tensions, Deepens Military Ties with Rome

Italian Defense Minister chairs meeting with officials from the Government of National Unity (GNU’s “Our Government” platform)
Italian Defense Minister chairs meeting with officials from the Government of National Unity (GNU’s “Our Government” platform)
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Libya’s Unity Government Moves Past Tripoli Tensions, Deepens Military Ties with Rome

Italian Defense Minister chairs meeting with officials from the Government of National Unity (GNU’s “Our Government” platform)
Italian Defense Minister chairs meeting with officials from the Government of National Unity (GNU’s “Our Government” platform)

Libya’s interim Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, has moved beyond recent tensions in the capital Tripoli to strengthen military cooperation with Italy, even as the UN Security Council pressed Libyan factions to support the UN roadmap for political settlement.

Security in Tripoli remains fragile, with heightened alert between GNU-aligned forces and units of the “Deterrence Apparatus” and their allies.

On Thursday, the GNU announced a high-level trilateral meeting in Rome between Deputy Defense Minister Abdel Salam Zoubi, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, and the head of Italian intelligence.

According to Tripoli, talks focused on bilateral defense ties, building Libya’s military capabilities, and boosting coordination in security and training. Both sides also discussed regional stability, Mediterranean security, and wider strategic cooperation.

The GNU said the two governments reaffirmed the importance of “ongoing coordination and consultation to serve shared interests and support regional stability,” underscoring their commitment to strengthening military and security partnerships.

Meanwhile, in western Libya, the Coastal Military Zone held a graduation ceremony for the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the 62nd Brigade. The event, attended by Deputy Chief of Staff Salah Al-Namroush, featured combat drills showcasing the unit’s discipline and readiness.

Namroush praised Turkish trainers and Libyan officers for their role in preparing the battalion, urging graduates to embody “discipline, teamwork, and constant readiness to defend the nation’s sovereignty.”

As armored vehicles and rival forces remain deployed along tense frontlines, UN envoy Hanna Tetteh is accelerating efforts to implement the new political “roadmap” aimed at breaking the deadlock and paving the way for elections.

On Thursday, the UN mission reposted the Security Council’s welcome of Tetteh’s August 21 briefing, which launched the roadmap. The Council urged Libyan institutions to work toward compromises enabling a Libyan-led, transparent process without preconditions, and called on the international community to provide strong backing.

Council members also welcomed the revival of the Berlin Process follow-up committee and stressed the need to unify Libya’s fragmented institutions, including security and military structures. They voiced concern over Libya’s “fragile security climate” and urged adherence to the 2020 ceasefire, warning against unilateral moves that could endanger civilians.

The Security Council emphasized progress on financial arrangements, calling for a unified budget to stabilize Libya’s economy. It also praised the recent completion of municipal elections in 34 towns, commended the national electoral commission, and highlighted the importance of women’s full, safe, and equal participation in the political process.

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Arab World

Iraq Judiciary Seizes Over $85 Million in Graft Case

14 January 2020, Iraq, Baghdad: US dollar banknotes are pictured at a currency exchange service provider. (dpa)
14 January 2020, Iraq, Baghdad: US dollar banknotes are pictured at a currency exchange service provider. (dpa)
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Iraq Judiciary Seizes Over $85 Million in Graft Case

14 January 2020, Iraq, Baghdad: US dollar banknotes are pictured at a currency exchange service provider. (dpa)
14 January 2020, Iraq, Baghdad: US dollar banknotes are pictured at a currency exchange service provider. (dpa)

Iraq's judiciary on Tuesday said it had seized more than $85 million in a corruption case against a recently arrested oil official, with some of the cash hidden underground.

Last month, Iraqi authorities arrested deputy oil minister for refining affairs Adnan al-Jumaili in Salaheddin province in northern Iraq.

The total amount seized since Jumaili's arrest now exceeds 98 billion dinars (equivalent to over $74 million), along with $11 million, the Supreme Judicial Council said.

Investigations into Jumaili's activities related to "squandering funds in projects carried by the accused" and others involved in the case led "today to the seizure of more than 67 billion dinars and one million dollars", the council added.

Some of the cash was hidden inside homes, while the rest was buried four meters deep and had to be dug out with specialized machinery.

Authorities had previously confiscated 70 properties and 21 vehicles in the case.

Like all his predecessors, Iraq's new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has vowed to fight corruption and mismanagement that have plagued Iraq for decades.

Corruption is especially rampant across the country's public institutions, but convictions typically target mid-level officials or minor players and rarely those at the top of the power hierarchy.

In 2024, an Iraqi court sentenced to prison former senior officials, a businessman and others for involvement in the theft of $2.5 billion in public funds -- one of Iraq's biggest corruption cases.

Arab World

Israel Fire Kills Two in Lebanon, Testing Iran-Linked Ceasefire

The rubble of a collapsed building is pictured following Israeli bombardment, in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on June 21, 2026. (AFP)
The rubble of a collapsed building is pictured following Israeli bombardment, in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on June 21, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Fire Kills Two in Lebanon, Testing Iran-Linked Ceasefire

The rubble of a collapsed building is pictured following Israeli bombardment, in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on June 21, 2026. (AFP)
The rubble of a collapsed building is pictured following Israeli bombardment, in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on June 21, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli gunfire killed two people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanon's Civil Defense and health ministry said, prompting Iran-backed Hezbollah to accuse Israel of violating a ceasefire that has largely held since Sunday.  

The lull in fighting is the longest yet in the war that was ignited by the US-Iran conflict on March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel in support of Tehran, prompting Israel's second offensive in the country since 2024. 

The highway south was clogged with cars on Tuesday as the relative calm encouraged displaced people to return home, despite concerns about the ceasefire's solidity and with Israeli forces still deployed deep inside Lebanon. 

The war has loomed over diplomacy towards resolving the US-Iran conflict, as Tehran has demanded Israel halt attacks in Lebanon as part of its interim deal with Washington, tying the fate of the wider negotiations to the Lebanon conflict. 

'UNQUESTIONABLE PART' OF AGREEMENT 

The ‌shooting marked the first ‌fatalities since Sunday. 

Israeli soldiers opened fire at a group of people near a bulldozer clearing a ‌road ⁠in the al-Deir ⁠neighborhood of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, the local mayor and Lebanon's state news agency NNA said. 

The Israeli military later said its troops had fired warning shots at four people on a bulldozer and motorcycle that had crossed into the zone Israeli troops are still holding in southern Lebanon. It described them as "Hezbollah terrorists operating under civilian cover". 

After the group of people continued to approach, "additional fire was conducted in order to remove the threat." 

In a separate incident, the Israeli military said it "struck armed terrorists who posed an immediate threat" to soldiers in the Ali al-Taher ridge area - located within the same area of the south. 

Hezbollah, in a statement, said two civilians were killed in the Nabatieh al-Fawqa shooting and accused Israel of violating the ceasefire. 

It did not say whether ⁠it intended to respond. Asked about the latest incident, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, ‌Ali Bahreini, told reporters that any violation of the memorandum of understanding in Lebanon would create ‌challenges for peace talks. 

"Lebanon is an unquestionable part of the agreement, and whatever happens in Lebanon affects the whole process, and it is the United ‌States which should use all its leverage against Israel to make it to stop attacks against Lebanon," he said. 

A joint statement ‌issued at the end of US-Iranian talks in Switzerland said the parties had agreed to create "a de-confliction cell" to ensure adherence to the termination of hostilities in Lebanon. 

On Tuesday, US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a phone call that they were committed to forming the cell to solidify the ceasefire in Lebanon, and that details of its formation and how it would operate were still under review. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‌said on Monday that troops had full freedom of action to thwart any Hezbollah direct or emerging threat against them or Israeli citizens, and would remain in Lebanon for "as long as is necessary". 

A ⁠separate Israeli drone strike on Tuesday ⁠afternoon hit a parked car in southern Lebanon, with no casualties recorded, Lebanese state media said. 

'PEOPLE ARE SCARED', LOCAL OFFICIAL SAYS 

Nabatieh and the nearby Ali al-Taher ridge have been the focal point of heavy fighting in recent weeks, as Israeli forces sought to advance there. 

Israeli attacks have forced some 1.2 million people from their homes in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities. 

Zein Ghandour, the mayor of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, said residents had begun returning to check on their homes, but were being urged to stay away after Tuesday's shooting. 

"People were scared," he said, speaking to Reuters by phone. 

Further from the frontline, hundreds of families had returned to the southern town of Zrarieh, said local official Rida Abed al-Khalik. "We are expecting more to come tomorrow depending on what will happen in the meetings today," he said, referring to talks in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli government officials. 

In the nearby village of Toura, an official said 60-70% of residents had returned, though some had no homes to return to. 

Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 4,100 people, including 773 women, children and healthcare workers, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The toll does not say how many combatants are among the dead. 

Israel's death toll from this round of hostilities with Hezbollah includes at least 32 soldiers and four Israeli civilians. 

Arab World

UN Probe: Israel's 'Deliberate Targeting' of Children Part of Ongoing Gaza 'Genocide'

Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Raghad Hassan Ashour, 16, during her funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital after she was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, Monday June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Raghad Hassan Ashour, 16, during her funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital after she was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, Monday June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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UN Probe: Israel's 'Deliberate Targeting' of Children Part of Ongoing Gaza 'Genocide'

Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Raghad Hassan Ashour, 16, during her funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital after she was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, Monday June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Mourners carry the body of Palestinian Raghad Hassan Ashour, 16, during her funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital after she was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, Monday June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian children in what has become a key factor in an ongoing "genocide" in Gaza, United Nations investigators charged on Tuesday, in a report slammed by Israel.

According to AFP, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said it had found evidence that "Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli security forces.”

This, it said, was a key factor in establishing "the genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the larger Palestinian group in Gaza.”

The three-member investigative team, which does not speak for the UN itself, first determined in a report last September that Israel had committed "genocide" in the war in Gaza -- a finding Israel flatly rejected.

In Tuesday's follow-up report, they said the intense scale and systematic nature of Israeli military operations had continued, resulting in the "unprecedented" death, injury and trauma of Palestinian children.

There were "reasonable grounds" to conclude that Israel's authorities and security forces "have continued to commit the crime of genocide" in Gaza, they said.

Israel, which has long been harshly critical of the commission, slammed the report as "defamatory" and a "libelous sham.”

It accused the investigators of ignoring "the brutal tactics of Hamas, which ruthlessly attacks Israeli children and uses Palestinian children as human shields.”

The commission, which was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, examined for its latest report crimes affecting Palestinian children, and how living conditions imposed by Israel in Gaza were "resulting in preventable mortality of children.”

"Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, and war crimes in the West Bank," the team said in a statement.

The commission said that severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacements, starvation, and the collapse of education and healthcare had "erased childhood" in Gaza and would continue to affect the territory's children throughout their lives.

"By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future," said Indian judge Srinivasan Muralidhar, who chairs the inquiry.

"Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured."

The report comes days after the UN children's agency UNICEF said at least 265 children had been killed and hundreds more wounded in Gaza since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect.

UNICEF said children had been shot, bombed and struck by quadcopters, killed in tents, in schools and while playing football or fishing.

The Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory response in Gaza has killed more than 72,800 people, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

The UN inquiry said that during the first two years of the war at least 20,179 children were killed and 44,143 injured "as a direct result of the hostilities in Gaza.”

The killing and maiming of Palestinian children "was part of a strategy to destroy the biological continuity and future existence of the Palestinian group in Gaza", it said.

By targeting children, the report said, "Israel is eroding the foundational structure of Palestinian society, weakening the demographic vitality.”

Israel was responsible for causing a "severe orphan crisis,” while wounded youngsters "face a lifetime of disability" -- now "a defining demographic reality" among Gaza's children, it said.

The siege of Gaza "directly undermined reproductive and newborn health,” while the collapse of public health programs "eroded the conditions necessary for a healthy next generation.”

The report listed Israeli divisions, brigades and units that may be responsible for killing children, in specific incidents in Gaza and the West Bank.

Besides Gaza, the commission also documented a sharp increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian children in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

The commission urged all UN member states, including Israel, to ensure accountability for crimes committed.