Tunisia FM to Asharq Al-Awsat: No Disputes among Neighbors on Libya

Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui (C) shakes hands with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry (R) and Algerian Sabri Boukadoum (L) before a meeting to discuss Libya in Tunis. (AFP)
Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui (C) shakes hands with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry (R) and Algerian Sabri Boukadoum (L) before a meeting to discuss Libya in Tunis. (AFP)
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Tunisia FM to Asharq Al-Awsat: No Disputes among Neighbors on Libya

Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui (C) shakes hands with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry (R) and Algerian Sabri Boukadoum (L) before a meeting to discuss Libya in Tunis. (AFP)
Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui (C) shakes hands with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry (R) and Algerian Sabri Boukadoum (L) before a meeting to discuss Libya in Tunis. (AFP)

Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui revealed on Thursday that some 100,000 Libyans had fled their country to neighboring Tunisia due to fighting in Tripoli as the Libyan National Army (LNA) sought to cleanse the capital of terrorist and criminal gangs.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that Tunisia and its Arab partners reject the participation of militias and UN-designated terrorists in the war in Libya.

He made his remarks on the sidelines of a joint press conference in Carthage with his Egyptian and Algerian counterparts, who met to discuss the crisis in Libya.

He stressed that Tunisia, which was elected as a two-year member of the UN Security Council, will be keen on ensuring “the execution of all resolutions on Libya, including those related to a political settlement to the crisis and reaching a ceasefire.”

Moreover, Jhinaoui denied the existence of disputes between Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria on efforts to reach a political settlement to the conflict in Libya.

In a statement released overnight, the foreign ministers denounced "the continuous flow of weapons" and the "influx of foreign terrorist fighters" in Libya and ruled out the possibility of a military solution to the crisis.

They agreed to strengthen their cooperation in the fight against terrorism in the region.



Lebanese Begin Grim Task of Recovering Bodies from Rubble

 Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)
Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)
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Lebanese Begin Grim Task of Recovering Bodies from Rubble

 Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)
Rescuers use an excavator as they search for dead bodies through the rubble of a destroyed house, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Ainata village, south Lebanon. (AP)

In the southern Lebanon border villages of Bint Jbeil and Ainata, where fierce fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters took place, rescuers used excavators began searching on Wednesday for bodies under the rubble.

A woman in Ainata wrapped in black cried as she held a portrait her grandson, a Hezbollah fighter, who was killed in the fighting, as she waits for rescuers to recover his body from a destroyed home.

The smell of death filled the air and several dead bodies could be seen inside houses and between trees. In the town of Kfar Hammam, rescuers recovered four bodies, according to Lebanese state media.

Meanwhile, families and politicians visited the graves of Hezbollah fighters buried in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek region.

Families with tears in their eyes paid respects to the dead and celebratory gunshots could be heard in the background Wednesday, the first day of a ceasefire between the group and Israel.

“The resistance (Hezbollah) will stay to defend Lebanon,” Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Mokdad told reporters while visiting the graves. “We tell the enemy that the martyrs thwarted their plans for the Middle East.”

Several other Hezbollah members of parliament were present.