Libya: Water Outage in Tripoli

A man fills bottles and a bucket with water in Tripoli, Libya (Reuters)
A man fills bottles and a bucket with water in Tripoli, Libya (Reuters)
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Libya: Water Outage in Tripoli

A man fills bottles and a bucket with water in Tripoli, Libya (Reuters)
A man fills bottles and a bucket with water in Tripoli, Libya (Reuters)

The Great Man-Made River Project Authority announced water outage in Tripoli and other cities in the western and central region after armed men assaulted its electricity station, blocking the water flow.

In a statement, the authorities said that an armed group stormed the main electricity station and obliged the technicians there to cut off the electricity supply to Hasnawa wells fields in the backdrop of demands of fair outage hours of electricity in the south as in other regions.

After negotiations with the group, the electrical current was back and work is currently ongoing to charge the electricity stations to operate wells again, added the statement. Gradual arrival of water to Tripoli is expected by Friday.

The authority demanded the security and military bodies to hold responsibility of protecting Hasnawa wells fields.

Meanwhile, the Government of National Accord, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, declared that dozens of prisoners in Mitiga prison were released. Spokesman of the Presidential Council (PC) head Mohammed Al-Sallak confirmed Wednesday the release of 83 prisoners from the prison of Mitiga in coordination with the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General.

The 7th Brigade, part of the latest clashes in Tripoli, announced that officers of its operations' chamber opened channels for communication with relevant parties in Tripoli in order to freeze all military actions.

Sarraj government revealed that a new agreement to confirm the ceasefire in Tripoli was signed between representatives of Tripoli and Tarhuna.



Syria Minister Says Open to Talks with Kurds, But Ready to Use 'Force'

 Syria's new Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra attends an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 19, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's new Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra attends an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Syria Minister Says Open to Talks with Kurds, But Ready to Use 'Force'

 Syria's new Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra attends an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 19, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's new Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra attends an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 19, 2025. (Reuters)

Syria's defense minister said Wednesday that Damascus was open to talks with Kurdish-led forces on their integration into the national army but stood ready to use force should negotiations fail.

"The door to negotiation with the (Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces) is currently open," Murhaf Abu Qasra told reporters.

"If we have to use force, we will be ready."

Last month, an official told AFP that an SDF delegation had met Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who heads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that spearheaded the opposition offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa had told Al Arabiya television that Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army so that weapons are "in the hands of the state alone".

The US-backed SDF spearheaded the military campaign that ousted the ISIS group from its last territory in Syria in 2019.

The group controls much of the oil-producing northeast, where it has enjoyed de facto autonomy for more than a decade.

"They offered us oil, but we don't want oil, we want the institutions and the borders," Abu Qasra said.

Ankara, which has long had ties with HTS, accuses the main component of the SDF, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Türkiye's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In an offensive that coincided with the HTS-led advance on Damascus, Turkish-backed armed groups in northern Syria seized several areas from the SDF late last year.

Earlier this month, then US secretary of state Antony Blinken said he was working to address Turkish concerns and dissuade it from stepping up its offensive against the SDF.

UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen told reporters in Damascus on Wednesday that he hoped the warring parties would allow time for a diplomatic solution "so that this does not end in a full military confrontation".

Pedersen said Washington and Ankara "have a key role to play in supporting this" effort.

"We are looking for the beginning of a new Syria and hopefully that will also include the northeast in a peaceful manner," he said.