Haftar Visits Rome, Parliament Discusses Implementation of the Skhirat Amendment

Then-General Khalifa Haftar speaks during a news conference at a sports club in Abyar, east of Benghazi May 21, 2014. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
Then-General Khalifa Haftar speaks during a news conference at a sports club in Abyar, east of Benghazi May 21, 2014. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
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Haftar Visits Rome, Parliament Discusses Implementation of the Skhirat Amendment

Then-General Khalifa Haftar speaks during a news conference at a sports club in Abyar, east of Benghazi May 21, 2014. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
Then-General Khalifa Haftar speaks during a news conference at a sports club in Abyar, east of Benghazi May 21, 2014. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori

While the election file prevailed over the political scene in Libya on Tuesday, Italy considered that the Skhirat agreement, signed in Morocco under UN auspices two years ago, does not end by December 17, the deadline previously set by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army.

Haftar, who continued on Tuesday his second official visit to Rome, has agreed with Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano that holding the elections was necessary and that next Sunday would mark the anniversary of the Skhirat agreement, not its expiry date, as reported by Italy’s AKI news agency.

The same agency quoted Alfano as saying that the election is a “train the destination of which has been determined, and the only question that remains on the table is the speed of this train,” referring to the date of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

UN Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame has stated in his proposed roadmap that September would be the deadline for holding the elections. Alfano and Haftar also agreed to support the UN envoy’s efforts to reach a political solution to the Libyan crisis. Haftar arrived in Rome on Monday for his second visit to Italy this year.

On a different note, the head of the Libyan Parliament, Aguila Saleh, chaired an official session in the city of Tobruk, east of the country, to discuss the amendment of the constitutional declaration and take practical measures to implement the proposal approved by parliament last month on amending the Skhirat agreement.

Ahead of the meeting, Saleh met with the head of the Electoral Commission, Imad Sayeh, where the discussion focused on the upcoming electoral process in Libya.

Salameh on Tuesday said that he did not call for holding the elections, “but to start work on securing the conditions necessary for the elections.”

“This requires long months of work to secure the legislative, technical, political and security conditions,” he told representatives of the municipal council in Gharyan.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International accused European governments of being “knowingly complicit in the torture and abuse of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants detained by Libyan immigration authorities in appalling conditions in Libya.”

In a report published on Tuesday, the organization said that hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in Libya were at the mercy of officials, militias, armed groups and smugglers “often working seamlessly together for financial gain.”



Netanyahu Asks US to Broker Israel-Syria Negotiations

US envoy Tom Barrack meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Türkiye on May 24, 2025 (EPA)
US envoy Tom Barrack meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Türkiye on May 24, 2025 (EPA)
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Netanyahu Asks US to Broker Israel-Syria Negotiations

US envoy Tom Barrack meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Türkiye on May 24, 2025 (EPA)
US envoy Tom Barrack meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Türkiye on May 24, 2025 (EPA)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US envoy Tom Barrack he is interested in negotiating with the new Syrian government, with the US serving as mediator, two Israeli officials told Axios on Wednesday.

“Netanyahu is interested in negotiating an updated security deal and working up towards a full peace agreement,” according to a senior Israeli official.

“When Barrack met Netanyahu last week, the Israeli prime minister told him he wants to use the momentum from the Trump-al-Sharaa meeting to start US-mediated negotiations with Syria,” an Israeli official said.

A senior Israel official also told Axios that Netanyahu's goal is to try and reach a set of agreements, starting with an updated security deal based on the 1974 disengagement of forces agreement, with modifications, and ending with a peace deal between the countries.

The prime minister believes Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa's aspiration to build close ties with the Trump administration create a diplomatic opportunity. “We want to try and move towards normalization with Syria as soon as possible,” the official said.

According to the official, Barrack told the Israelis that al-Sharaa is open to discussing new agreements with Israel.

After his visit to Israel, Barrack traveled to Washington and briefed Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

A US official said the Israelis presented to Barrack their “red lines” on Syria: No Turkish military bases in the country, no renewed Iranian and Hezbollah presence and the demilitarization of southern Syria.

The Israelis told Barrack they will keep their forces in Syria until a new agreement is signed that includes the demilitarization of southern Syria, an Israeli official said.

The official added that in a new future border deal with Syria, Israel wants to add US forces to the UN force that was previously stationed on the border.

In a related development, the Israeli forces on Wednesday seized one vehicle and arrested three workers employed by Al-Quneitra city council. The forces had advanced into Al-Qahtaniyah village in Syria’s southern countryside of the governorate, deploying within residential neighborhoods and firing guns into the air.

The Syrian TV reported that the deployment coincided with loudspeaker announcements calling on residents to stay in their homes.

Last Sunday, the Israeli forces destroyed an agricultural land near the border in the southern countryside of Quneitra and confiscated a flock of sheep.

Earlier, the Israeli forces had carried out airstrikes in southern Syria, saying it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel.

Israeli shelling also targeted agricultural areas in the Wadi Yarmouk region.

Residents described increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli incursions into villages, where they have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops.