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GNA Threatens Haftar with the ICC

Part of the damage to the front of the Mitiga International Airport during the fighting in Tripoli (Reuters)
Part of the damage to the front of the Mitiga International Airport during the fighting in Tripoli (Reuters)
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GNA Threatens Haftar with the ICC

Part of the damage to the front of the Mitiga International Airport during the fighting in Tripoli (Reuters)
Part of the damage to the front of the Mitiga International Airport during the fighting in Tripoli (Reuters)

Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) Foreign Minister Mohamed Siala called on The Hague’s International Criminal Court (ICC) to take necessary measures to investigate rocket attacks on Mitiga International Airport.

Labeling the attacks a war crime, Siala accused the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar of carrying them out.

In a letter to the ICC, Siala accused LNA forces of violating international and human rights laws, killing and maiming prisoners and of attacking diplomatic missions.

In other news, the LNA boosted the number and quality of forces participating in the fight in the country’s capital, Tripoli. GNA forces, on the other hand, focused their attacks on the Okba Ibn Nafa Air Base, located west of the capital.

This is the second time in a month that the LNA dispatched reinforcements to Tripoli, where its forces have been fighting a battle to liberate the capital since April 4, 2019.

The deployment of new forces coincided with LNA Spokesman Ahmed Al-Mismari releasing a motivating voice recording to boost the morale of forces fighting on the frontlines to free Tripoli. It is the second recording in a week in which Mismari urges fighters to revolt against GNA’s Fayez al-Sarraj and Fathi Bashagha, whom he accused of treason and corruption.

Mismari also accused the GNA of selling out the country’s resources to Turkish occupation and loyalist militias.

On the ground, the battles were renewed between GNA and LNA forces on several axes inside the capital. Clashes especially erupted near the airport road south of the city.

GNA Spokesman Col.Mohammed Qanounou said that air forces targeted early Wednesday to shipments intended for LNA forces around 200 kilometers away from the capital. He also announced launching three strikes within 24 hours against LNA targets.

Local media loyal to the GNA quoted unidentified sources as saying that its forces destroyed a Russian air defense system in an air strike in the Shweref area that was on its way to Tarhuna.

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.