Twin Car Bombs Leave Scores of Casualties in Benghazi

Smoke billows during clashes on July 23, 2014, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. (AFP Photo/Abdullah Doma)
Smoke billows during clashes on July 23, 2014, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. (AFP Photo/Abdullah Doma)
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Twin Car Bombs Leave Scores of Casualties in Benghazi

Smoke billows during clashes on July 23, 2014, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. (AFP Photo/Abdullah Doma)
Smoke billows during clashes on July 23, 2014, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. (AFP Photo/Abdullah Doma)

The death toll following a double car bomb attack in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Tuesday night has risen to at least 33, officials said.

Ahmad al-Fitouri, a security services official for commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar's forces, was among those killed in the bombing, military spokesman Miloud al-Zwei said.

A senior intelligence official, Mahdi al-Fellah, was among around 50 wounded, the officials said.

An explosives-rigged vehicle blew up in front of a mosque in the central neighborhood of Al-Sleimani, a security source said.

A second car exploded 30 minutes later in the same area, causing more casualties among security services and civilians.

Libya has been rocked by chaos since a 2011 uprising that toppled and killed Muammar Gaddafi, with two rival authorities and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.



Russia Denies its Hmeimim Base in Syria Is Being Used to Supply Hezbollah with Weapons from Iran

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Russia Denies its Hmeimim Base in Syria Is Being Used to Supply Hezbollah with Weapons from Iran

A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 bomber lands at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, northwest Syria, on May 4, 2016. (AFP via Getty Images)

Russia has asked Israel to avoid launching aerial strikes as part of its war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah near one of Moscow’s bases in Syria, a top official said Wednesday.

Syrian state media in mid-October claimed that Israel had struck the port city of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad, who is supported by Russia and in turn backs Hezbollah.

Latakia, and in particular its airport, is close to the town of Hmeimim that hosts a Russian air base.

“Israel actually carried out an air strike in the immediate vicinity of Hmeimim,” Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy in the Near East, told the RIA Novosti press agency.

“Our military has of course notified Israeli authorities that such acts that put Russian military lives in danger over there are unacceptable,” he added.

“That is why we hope that this incident in October will not be repeated.”

Israel has carried out intensive bombing of Syria but rarely targets Latakia, to the northwest of Damascus.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of transporting weapons through Syria.

The two warring parties have been in open conflict since September after Israel’s year-long Gaza war with Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — escalated to a new front.

Lavrentiev said that Russia’s air base was not being used to supply Hezbollah with weapons.

Israel stepped up strikes on Syria at the same time as targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian government forces and groups supported by its arch-foe Iran, notably Hezbollah fighters that have been deployed to assist Assad’s regime.

Israel rarely comments on its strikes but has said it will not allow Iran to extend its presence to Syria.