Libyan National Army: Battle for Derna Nearing End

Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar. (Reuters)
Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar. (Reuters)
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Libyan National Army: Battle for Derna Nearing End

Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar. (Reuters)
Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar. (Reuters)

The Libyan National Army, commanded by Khalifa Haftar, announced on Monday that its campaign against the last remaining terrorist pockets in the eastern city of Derna is nearing its final stages.

"The LNA controls most of the city, but there are still pockets of resistance," LNA spokesman General Ahmed al-Mismari told AFP.

Mesmari said LNA forces were focusing on "sweep operations and tracking down terrorist elements".

The spokesman called on displaced families to return to their homes in "liberated areas" of the city.

The LNA launched a ground offensive to take Derna last month after encircling the city - the last in eastern Libya to elude their control - for around two years.

The LNA is fighting a coalition known as the Derna Protection Force (DPF), which includes local combatants and extremist forces with links to groups in western Libya. The DPF includes fighters with connections to al-Qaeda, as well as foreign militants.

On Saturday and Sunday, the LNA said it had advanced in the district of Sheiha after hitting it with multiple air strikes, to the edge of Al Maghar in central Derna, a Mediterranean port.

“What remains outside the control of our forces is considered a small combat zone, less than just 10 km squared,” said Mismari. “The operations are in their final stages and the fighting is very heavy.”

On June 4, Haftar said "victory was near" for his forces in Derna.

He said the LNA would deploy across the city to take control of all areas and infrastructure, warning his troops against taking "revenge" -- in particular against terrorists who surrender and give up their arms.

The United Nations has expressed concern about the plight of Derna’s 125,000 residents, whose access to food, water, communications and medical treatment has been severely restricted.

The LNA has said it is working to restore services and deliver food to parts of Derna where it has advanced.

The Libyan Red Crescent said it had helped some 1,800 families that had been granted safe passage from areas being fought over. It said Sunday it had delivered humanitarian aid to 6,000 people in western Derna's Bab Tobruk district, in addition to thousands of others who have fled fighting in the embattled city to nearby areas.

Derna is located about 265 km (165 miles) to the west of the border with Egypt.



One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Reuters quoted Touma as saying.

"Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out," Touma said.

On May 19, Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. However, UNRWA continues to be banned from bringing aid into the enclave.

Israel and the United States have accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing from UN-led aid operations - which Hamas denies. They have instead set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, which the UN has refused to work with.

On Monday, UNICEF said that last month more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.