Libya Seeks Inspiration From Moroccan Experience in Reconciliation

Liberian Foreign Minister Gbehzohngar Findley with Morocco's Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita. Photo: Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Liberian Foreign Minister Gbehzohngar Findley with Morocco's Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita. Photo: Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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Libya Seeks Inspiration From Moroccan Experience in Reconciliation

Liberian Foreign Minister Gbehzohngar Findley with Morocco's Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita. Photo: Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Liberian Foreign Minister Gbehzohngar Findley with Morocco's Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita. Photo: Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdul-Hadi al-Hawaij has said that Libya wants to benefit from Morocco’s experience in the field of reconciliation, recalling that the Equity and Reconciliation Commission has made it possible for the Kingdom to address past human rights violations.

Hawaij arrived in Rabat on Friday carrying a message from Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh to King Mohammed VI on the Libyan crisis developments and the leading role Morocco can play in finding a solution.

In a press statement after delivering the message to Morocco's Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita, he said: “We are advocates of peace and dialogue and we extend our hand to all like-minded people in order to put an end to the chaos, within a framework of national harmony, backed by an equitable distribution of wealth.”

“We intend to persevere on the path of dialogue,” he said, adding that “Morocco is capable of playing a leading role in resolving the Libyan crisis.”

The Libyan FM commended “the support, farsightedness, and leadership” of King Mohammed VI at the regional, African and international levels. Morocco has “no other interest than the security and stability of Libya,” Hawaij said.

The envoy said that his meeting with Bourita also focused on the creation of a Morocco-Libyan economic forum.

Further, Bourita met with Liberian Foreign Minister Gbehzohngar Findley in Rabat who is on a business visit to Morocco currently.

Morocco and Liberia have regular contacts and permanent exchanges on the means to promote cooperation, Bourita said in a press briefing after the talks. A multidisciplinary Moroccan mission will be sent to Liberia to explore areas of bilateral cooperation, particularly in the fields of vocational training, energy, and agriculture, he added.

The two countries have agreed to further strengthen their coordination at regional and international organizations, the Moroccan FM added.



Israel Pounds Southern Lebanon and Beirut Outskirts, Killing Five Medics

Fire and smoke erupt from a building just after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern Chiyah neighborhood on November 22, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Fire and smoke erupt from a building just after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern Chiyah neighborhood on November 22, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Israel Pounds Southern Lebanon and Beirut Outskirts, Killing Five Medics

Fire and smoke erupt from a building just after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern Chiyah neighborhood on November 22, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Fire and smoke erupt from a building just after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern Chiyah neighborhood on November 22, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

Israeli forces pounded southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the capital Beirut on Friday, killing at least five medics, and ground troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters in the south.

Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy will lead to an imminent ceasefire.

US mediator Amos Hochstein said this week in Beirut that a truce was "within our grasp". He travelled on to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz before returning to Washington, the news outlet Axios said.

His trip was aimed at ending more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon's southern border, which escalated when Israel ramped up its strikes in late September and sent ground troops into Lebanon on Oct. 1.

Israeli troops have fought Hezbollah in a strip of towns along the border and this week pushed deeper to the edges of Khiyam, a town some six km (four miles) from the border.

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday. Lebanese security sources told Reuters Israeli troops had also advanced in a string of villages to the west. They said Israel was most likely trying to isolate Khiyam before attacking the town.

Four Italian soldiers were lightly injured after two rockets exploded at a UNIFIL peacekeeping force base in southern Lebanon, a spokesperson for UNIFIL said on Friday.

Italian sources said an investigation was under way. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Italian media that Hezbollah might be responsible for the attack.

Israeli strikes on two other villages in southern Lebanon killed five medics from a rescue force affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese health ministry said.

The more than 3,500 people killed by Israeli strikes over the last year include more than 200 medics, the health ministry said.

EVACUATION WARNINGS AND STRIKES

Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from Israel's north because of rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which began firing across the border in support of Hamas at the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

Israel also mounted more strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a once densely populated stronghold of Hezbollah.

Abeer Darwich, a resident of a building that was hit in Beirut southern suburbs on Friday, had to leave her apartment immediately after an evacuation warning from Israel's military.

She stood watching while an Israeli strike pounded the high rise building into dust.

"Do you know that most of the apartments' owners took credit to buy those houses? Life savings are gone, memories and safety ... which Israel decided to steal from us," Darwich said .

Evacuation orders were issued on X for several buildings in the area on Friday. Reuters footage showed one of the strikes appearing to pierce the center of a multi-storey building, which toppled in a cloud of smoke.