UN Envoy Rules out Holding Elections in Libya before Year’s End

United Nations special envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame. (AFP)
United Nations special envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame. (AFP)
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UN Envoy Rules out Holding Elections in Libya before Year’s End

United Nations special envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame. (AFP)
United Nations special envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame. (AFP)

United Nations special envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame ruled out on Saturday the possibility of holding general elections in the country before the end of the year given the violence still raging their.

"There is still a lot to do. It may not be possible to respect the date of December 10," he told Agence-France Presse.

Rival Libyan leaders agreed to a Paris-brokered deal in May to hold a nationwide poll by the end of the year.

But Salame said that polls may not be organized before "three or four months".

"We can hold elections in the near future, yes. But certainly not now.”

Militia clashes in Tripoli's suburbs have left more than 100 people dead since late August.

The Paris agreement included a September 16 deadline to come up with an electoral law, forming the "constitutional base" for a vote later in the year.

But many observers have said the timetable was overly ambitious given ongoing instability and territorial disputes across the country, along with an economy that is flagging despite Libya's vast oil wealth.

The United Nations is hoping that presidential and parliamentary elections will help turn the page on years of chaos in Libya.



Netanyahu Says Israel Will Continue to Act Against the Houthis

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, on Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, on Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool, File)
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Netanyahu Says Israel Will Continue to Act Against the Houthis

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, on Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, on Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool, File)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel would continue acting against the Houthi militias in Yemen, whom he accused of threatening world shipping and the international order, and called on Israelis to be steadfast.
"Just as we acted forcefully against the terrorist arms of Iran's axis of evil, so we will act against the Houthis," he said in a video statement a day after a missile fired from Yemen fell in the Tel Aviv area, causing a number of mild injuries.

The US military said it conducted precision airstrikes on Saturday against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

In a statement, the US military's Central Command said the strikes aimed to "disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden.”

The US military also said it struck multiple Houthi one-way drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea.

Saturday's strike followed a similar attack last week by US aircraft against a command and control facility operated by the Houthis.

On Thursday, Israel launched strikes against ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-held parts of Yemen and threatened more attacks against the group, which has launched hundreds of missiles at Israel over the past year.