Sarraj Criticizes Haftar’s South Libya Operation

FILE PHOTO: Fayez al-Sarraj leaves after an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Fayez al-Sarraj leaves after an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
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Sarraj Criticizes Haftar’s South Libya Operation

FILE PHOTO: Fayez al-Sarraj leaves after an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Fayez al-Sarraj leaves after an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo

Head of the Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj reaffirmed that the presidential and parliamentary elections are the sole solution to move to a stable phase, stressing that he will not allow the south to become theater for settling political disputes.

There will be no military solution to the current crisis, asserted Saraj, criticizing the operation of the Libyan National Army, which is led by Khalifa Haftar, in the south.

His statement was made as the United Nations and its aid partners, together with the interim Government of Libya, launched on Tuesday a humanitarian response plan (HRP), appealing for USD202 million to bring urgent life-saving assistance to some 552,000 women, children and men affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The UN Humanitarian, Resident Coordinator for Libya, Maria Ribeiro launched the plan at an event in Tripoli, alongside Sarraj and UN Special Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame.

Sarraj said that this plan will allow access to great populations in various Libyan regions, and will provide them with basic services and needs.

In the statement issued by his office, he demanded that the responsive plan focuses highly on the southern region. Sarraj considered that the south has suffered a lot and its current condition requires joint efforts to end its hardship.

Further, Salame stressed the necessity of economic reforms adopted by Sarraj, which have driven remarkable progress in living conditions. He called for continuing the reforms program in which both the public and private sectors exploit the potentials to revive the economy.

Moreover, the Western Military Zone of the Presidential Council said that the hostile acts that took place in the past days in the area of Ghadwa and Murzuk clearly show an aim to impose a fait accompli and defeat any political solutions.



UN Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen Resigns

FILE - Geir Pedersen, the United Nations' special envoy to Syria, speaks to journalists in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
FILE - Geir Pedersen, the United Nations' special envoy to Syria, speaks to journalists in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
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UN Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen Resigns

FILE - Geir Pedersen, the United Nations' special envoy to Syria, speaks to journalists in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
FILE - Geir Pedersen, the United Nations' special envoy to Syria, speaks to journalists in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)

The United Nations special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, unexpectedly resigned on Thursday after almost seven years as the organization's representative to the war-torn country.

"I wish to let the council know that I have informed the secretary-general of my intention to step down after more than six-and-a-half years serving as United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, and he has graciously accepted my request," Pedersen told a meeting of the UN Security Council on Syria.

"It has been my intention for quite some time to move on for personal reasons after a long period of service," Pedersen told the 15-member council. "My experience in Syria has affirmed an enduring truth - that sometimes it's darkest before the dawn. For so long, progress seemed absolutely impossible, until suddenly it came."

Syrian president Bashar Assad was ousted in December.

"Few have endured suffering as profound as the Syrians, and few have demonstrated such resilience and determination," Pedersen said.

"Today, Syria and the Syrian people have a new dawn, and we must ensure that this becomes a bright day. They deserve this so much," he added.

“Being a special envoy for any conflict, let alone one that we Syrians know, is no easy job," Syria's UN Ambassador Ibrahim Olabi told the Security Council, adding that Pedersen "departs on a note of hope, on a success story."

He said Syria looks forward to "engaging with the Secretary-General and all of you in working with his successor in a way that preserves Syrian sovereignty and fulfills the aspiration of the Syrian people."


Gunman Kills 2 at Israeli-run Crossing between West Bank, Jordan

Israeli police officers stand next to their cars at the scene of a fatal shooting at the Allenby Crossing between the Israeli-Occupied West Bank and Jordan, September 18, 2025. REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
Israeli police officers stand next to their cars at the scene of a fatal shooting at the Allenby Crossing between the Israeli-Occupied West Bank and Jordan, September 18, 2025. REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
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Gunman Kills 2 at Israeli-run Crossing between West Bank, Jordan

Israeli police officers stand next to their cars at the scene of a fatal shooting at the Allenby Crossing between the Israeli-Occupied West Bank and Jordan, September 18, 2025. REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
Israeli police officers stand next to their cars at the scene of a fatal shooting at the Allenby Crossing between the Israeli-Occupied West Bank and Jordan, September 18, 2025. REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon

A gunman killed two people at an Israeli-run border crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan on Thursday, officials said.

The Israeli military referred to it as a militant attack and said that the shooter arrived on a truck transporting humanitarian aid. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said that two men, around 60 and 20 years old, were killed. The military said the attacker had been “neutralized," without elaborating, The AP news reported

Three Israelis were killed in a September 2024 attack at the crossing, when a retired Jordanian soldier opened fire. That attack appeared to be linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The Allenby Bridge Crossing over the Jordan River, also known as the King Hussein Bridge, is mainly used by Palestinians and tourists. It was closed after the attack.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for a future state. Violence has surged across the occupied West Bank since the Hamas-led attack from Gaza into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the latest war.

Israel is waging a major ground offensive in Gaza City that has forced nearly 250,000 Palestinians to flee, according to the United Nations. Hundreds of thousands remain in the city, large parts of which have already been destroyed in previous Israeli raids.


Israel Says it Attacked Hezbollah Targets in South Lebanon

A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above south Lebanon during Israeli bombardment on October 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above south Lebanon during Israeli bombardment on October 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
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Israel Says it Attacked Hezbollah Targets in South Lebanon

A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above south Lebanon during Israeli bombardment on October 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
A picture taken from northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above south Lebanon during Israeli bombardment on October 4, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Israel said on Thursday it had launched fresh airstrikes against Hezbollah military targets in south Lebanon to stop the group rebuilding in the area.

Israel's military confirmed in a statement that unspecified attacks were underway after earlier saying it would hit Hezbollah military infrastructure "in response to the group’s unlawful attempts to rebuild its activities in the area."

It warned residents of three villages to evacuate.

"We direct an urgent warning to the residents of the buildings marked in red... to evacuate those buildings," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee wrote on X. He provided maps of the three Lebanese villages of Mays al-Jabal, Kfar Tebnit and Dibbine.

Lebanon's state news agency NNA confirmed strikes in the area. There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah, or word on any damage or casualties.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the evacuation warning contradicted international peace efforts.

Lebanon's government was committed to halting hostilities and engaged in meetings to ensure implementation of a UN resolution that ended a round of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, Salam said in a post on X.

The US brokered a truce in November between Lebanon and Israel after more than a year of conflict sparked by the war in Gaza, but Israel has continued sporadically to attack Hezbollah across the border.

Lebanon is under pressure to disarm the group.

Hezbollah has said it would be a serious misstep even to discuss disarmament while Israel is continuing airstrikes on Lebanon and occupying swaths of territory in its south.