Tunisia Sets Up Military Emergency Plan as Sarraj Advances in Western Libya

File photo of Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/Files
File photo of Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/Files
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Tunisia Sets Up Military Emergency Plan as Sarraj Advances in Western Libya

File photo of Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/Files
File photo of Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/Files

Tunisia has upped its military presence along the border with Libya after the Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al-Sarraj announced that it wrested control of western Libya, Tunisian official sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The Tunisian Ministry of Defense announced in an official communiqué on Tuesday that the military formations were following the security situation in the Libyan regions bordering the Tunisian land and maritime borders, “with the highest degree of vigilance.”

The Tunisian Armed Forces “are ready to face any emergency, in close cooperation with the security forces, the National Guard and the Customs,” it added.

Rashad el-Tayeb, head of the government’s National Counter-Terrorism Committee, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the security forces and the national army were closely monitoring developments on the country’s southeastern borders with Libya, adding that they were fully prepared to move efficiently, and “face all scenarios of escape of terrorists or armed persons from the hotbeds of fighting in Libya, to the national territory by land or sea.”

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Rafik Shelli, head of the Tunisian Center for Global Security Studies said that the security forces and the army have reinforced their positions in southern Tunisia and the border areas to ensure the security of the country, and exclude all scenarios of infiltration of armed militias.

Major General Mohamed Al-Moadab, the former Director General of Military Security and the Tunisian Customs, warned against a scenario of a future civil war in Libya, but ruled out the involvement of the country’s politicians in the “intra-Libyan differences.”

Al-Moadab called for more vigilance in facing armed gangs and terrorist groups, who could exploit the world’s preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic to encourage smuggling and threaten the security and economic situation of North African countries.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including five Hezbollah fighters, in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, a security source in Lebanon said, in what Israel said was a warning to the Iran-backed group against trying to re-establish itself.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted training camps used by elite Hezbollah fighters and warehouses it used to store weapons in the Bekaa Valley region of eastern Lebanon.

The airstrikes were the deadliest on the area since a US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel last November. Bachir Khodr, governor of the Bekaa region, said seven of the dead were Syrian nationals.

Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in last year's conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with other commanders and destroying much of its arsenal.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday's strikes sent a "clear message" to Hezbollah, accusing it of planning to rebuild the capability to raid Israel through the elite Radwan force, Reuters reported.

Israel "will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding", he said. He added that strikes were also a message to the Lebanese government, saying it was responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement.

There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or from the Lebanese government to the latest Israeli strikes.

The United States has submitted a proposal to the Lebanese government aimed at securing Hezbollah's disarmament within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from positions they still hold in south Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon's armed forces were to confiscate "all unauthorized arms", beginning in the area south of the Litani River - the zone closest to Israel.