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Warring Parties Willing to Turn Libya Truce into Lasting Ceasefire, Says UN Envoy

UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame holds a news briefing ahead of UN-brokered military talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 4, 2020. (Reuters)
UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame holds a news briefing ahead of UN-brokered military talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 4, 2020. (Reuters)
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Warring Parties Willing to Turn Libya Truce into Lasting Ceasefire, Says UN Envoy

UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame holds a news briefing ahead of UN-brokered military talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 4, 2020. (Reuters)
UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame holds a news briefing ahead of UN-brokered military talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 4, 2020. (Reuters)

UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame said on Tuesday there was a “genuine will to start negotiating” between rival military factions as they began talks in Geneva aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire.

The talks in Geneva bring together five military officers from Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) and five from forces aligned with the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli.

The UN-brokered talks are aimed at trust building and working out a monitoring mechanism for a ceasefire.

Salame said the two sides were aiming “to bridge the gaps in their views on how the lasting, sustainable ceasefire can be organized on the ground”.

“We started yesterday to discuss with them a long list of points on our agenda, starting on an attempt to transform the truce into a more solid one, less often violated by either side and also to transform that truce into a real agreement on a lasting ceasefire,” he said, according to Reuters.

One of the participants said that officials discussed on the sidelines of the talks efforts to bolster the ceasefire and uniting the Libyan military, a source told Asharq Al-Awsat. They also expressed rejection of the deployment of any foreign troops in Libya.

A source close to the talks told Asharq Al-Awsat that the LNA delegation demanded an end to Turkey’s military and security deployment in Tripoli. It also called on Ankara to pull out its mercenaries that it had sent to fight for the GNA.

Former Defense Minister Mohammed al-Bargathi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Geneva talks were being held behind closed doors because the GNA delegation wants to avoid coming under pressure from militia leaders in Tripoli that want to see the talks fail.

“Personally, I don’t want an agreement to be reached before the militias are reined in and disarmed,” he added.

The military talks come two weeks after an international summit in Berlin that was focused on charting a path towards a political solution and enforcing a UN arms embargo that has been routinely violated.

There was an escalation in fighting late last year, and a truce brokered by Russia and Turkey from Jan. 12 has been repeatedly violated.

The United Nations says weapons and fighters have continued to enter Libya since the Berlin meeting.

The optimism in Geneva was quashed by developments on the ground where the LNA launched air raids against pro-GNA militias in the Abugrein town near Misrata.

LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said the army was committed to the ceasefire in western Libya and that it was ready to retaliate to any violation at any moment.

He accused Turkey of sending some 6,000 mercenaries from Syria to Libya. Ankara was seeking to send a total of 18,000 mercenaries, he revealed.

Ten Syrian units are currently deployed in Tripoli, he added. They include Syrian, Iraqi, Libyan, African and foreign mercenaries, as well as Turkish officers.

The GNA paid a million dollars to each unit commander, Mismari said.

Moreover, he accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of supporting terrorism in Libya through setting up terrorist groups and security companies. One company has been transformed into a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood group aimed at carrying out terrorist attacks in Libya.

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Arab World

Syria Moves Military Reinforcements East of Aleppo After Telling Kurds to Withdraw

Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)
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Syria Moves Military Reinforcements East of Aleppo After Telling Kurds to Withdraw

Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)

Syria's army was moving reinforcements east of Aleppo city on Wednesday, a day after it told Kurdish forces to withdraw from the area following deadly clashes last week.

The deployment comes as Syria's government seeks to extend its authority across the country, but progress has stalled on integrating the Kurds' de facto autonomous administration and forces into the central government under a deal reached in March.

The United States, which for years has supported Kurdish fighters but also backs Syria's new authorities, urged all parties to "avoid actions that could further escalate tensions" in a statement by the US military's Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper.

On Tuesday, Syrian state television published an army statement with a map declaring a large area east of Aleppo city a "closed military zone" and said "all armed groups in this area must withdraw to east of the Euphrates" River.

The area, controlled by Kurdish forces, extends from near Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Aleppo, to the Euphrates about 30 kilometers further east, as well as towards the south.

State news agency SANA published images on Wednesday showing military reinforcements en route from the coastal province of Latakia, while a military source on the ground, requesting anonymity, said reinforcements were arriving from both Latakia and the Damascus region.

Both sides reported limited skirmishes overnight.

An AFP correspondent on the outskirts of Deir Hafer reported hearing intermittent artillery shelling on Wednesday, which the military source said was due to government targeting of positions belonging to the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

- 'Declaration of war' -

The SDF controls swathes of the country's oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during Syria's civil war and the fight against the ISIS group.

On Monday, Syria accused the SDF of sending reinforcements to Deir Hafer and said it would send its own personnel there in response.

Kurdish forces on Tuesday denied any build-up of their personnel and accused the government of attacking the town, while state television said SDF sniper fire there killed one person.

Cooper urged "a durable diplomatic resolution through dialogue".

Elham Ahmad, a senior official in the Kurdish administration, said that government forces were "preparing themselves for another attack".

"The real intention is a full-scale attack" against Kurdish-held areas, she told an online press conference, accusing the government of having made a "declaration of war" and breaking the March agreement on integrating Kurdish forces.

Syria's government took full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing its Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Achrafieh neighborhoods and evacuating fighters there to Kurdish-controlled areas in the northeast.

Both sides traded blame over who started the violence last week that killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands.

- PKK, Türkiye -

On Tuesday in Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country's northeast, thousands of people demonstrated against the Aleppo violence, while shops were shut in a general strike.

Some protesters carried Kurdish flags and banners in support of the SDF.

"This government has not honored its commitments towards any Syrians," said cafe owner Joudi Ali.

Other protesters burned portraits of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country has lauded the Syrian government's Aleppo operation "against terrorist organizations".

Türkiye has long been hostile to the SDF, seeing it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a major threat along its southern border.

Last year, the PKK announced an end to its long-running armed struggle against the Turkish state and began destroying its weapons, but Ankara has insisted that the move include armed Kurdish groups in Syria.

On Tuesday, the PKK called the "attack on the Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo" an attempt to sabotage peace efforts between it and Ankara.

A day earlier, Ankara's ruling party levelled the same accusation against Kurdish fighters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 45 civilians and 60 soldiers and fighters from both sides killed in the Aleppo violence.

Arab World

Lebanon Says France to Host Conference to Support Army

French Special Presidential Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian looks on during a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (not pictured) at the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
French Special Presidential Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian looks on during a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (not pictured) at the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
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Lebanon Says France to Host Conference to Support Army

French Special Presidential Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian looks on during a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (not pictured) at the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
French Special Presidential Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian looks on during a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (not pictured) at the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 14 January 2026. (EPA)

Lebanon said Wednesday that a conference in support of the country's army as it seeks to disarm Hezbollah would take place in Paris on March 5.

The announcement follows recent promises of support to the military, which lacks funds, equipment and technical expertise.

Presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine said President Joseph Aoun met French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, Saudi envoy Yazid bin Farhan and ambassadors including from the US, Egypt and Qatar, discussing preparations for "a conference to support the Lebanese army and internal security forces".

"It was decided to hold the conference in Paris on March 5, to be opened by French President Emmanuel Macron," she said at the presidential palace.

Under US pressure and fearing expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which was badly weakened in more than a year of hostilities with Israel that largely ended in late 2024.

Last week, Lebanon's army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm the group, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.

A plan for the disarmament north of the Litani is to be presented to cabinet next month.
Israel, which accuses Hezbollah or rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.

Lebanon's army has dismantled tunnels and other military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah near the Israeli border in recent months, seizing weapons and ammunition, despite its limited capacities.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah, and has maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.

Last month, talks with international envoys in Paris touched on the Lebanese army's needs, while its chief agreed to document its progress in disarming Hezbollah.

Arab World

Iraqi Officials Arrest Man Wanted by Australian Police as 'Number One Priority'

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security. (Getty Images file)
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security. (Getty Images file)
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Iraqi Officials Arrest Man Wanted by Australian Police as 'Number One Priority'

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security. (Getty Images file)
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security. (Getty Images file)

Iraqi officials have arrested a man wanted by Australian Federal Police as a person of interest in ​the investigation into a spate of firebombings, including an antisemitic attack on a Melbourne synagogue, police said on Wednesday.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security and that she had identified ‌him as her "Number ‌One priority".

Iraq's National ‌Center ⁠for ​International ‌Judicial Cooperation said in a statement that Kadhim Malik Hamad Rabah al-Hajami had been arrested as part of a drugs investigation, after a request from Australia.

Barrett said Iraqi officials had made an independent decision to arrest the man ⁠in their own criminal investigation, after Australian Federal Police provided ‌information to Iraqi law enforcement ‍late last year.

"This ‍arrest is a significant disruption to an ‍alleged serious criminal and his alleged criminal enterprise in Australia," she said in a statement.

In October, Barrett said that in addition to being a ​suspect in arson attacks in Australia linked to the tobacco trade, the man ⁠was "a person of interest in the investigation into the alleged politically-motivated arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue" in Melbourne.

Australia expelled Iran's ambassador in August after the Australian Security Intelligence Organization traced the funding of hooded criminals who allegedly set fire to the Melbourne synagogue in December 2024 to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Hamad, previously convicted in Australia for drug trafficking ‌offences, was deported from Australia to Iraq in 2023.