Libya’s GNA Says Retakes Tarhouna

A fighter loyal to Libya's GNA celebrates after regaining control over the city, in Tripoli, Libya, June 4, 2020. REUTERS/Ayman Al-Sahili
A fighter loyal to Libya's GNA celebrates after regaining control over the city, in Tripoli, Libya, June 4, 2020. REUTERS/Ayman Al-Sahili
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Libya’s GNA Says Retakes Tarhouna

A fighter loyal to Libya's GNA celebrates after regaining control over the city, in Tripoli, Libya, June 4, 2020. REUTERS/Ayman Al-Sahili
A fighter loyal to Libya's GNA celebrates after regaining control over the city, in Tripoli, Libya, June 4, 2020. REUTERS/Ayman Al-Sahili

The Government of National Accord (GNA) announced Friday taking over Tarhouna, 90 kilometers southeast of the Libyan capital Tripoli, the last western stronghold of the Libyan National Army (LNA).

"Our heroic forces have extended their control over the whole of Tarhouna," said GNA spokesman Mohamad Gnounou.

The GNA said Thursday that its forces regained control of all of Tripoli's entrance and exit points after taking back the airport.

GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj vowed that his government would impose its control over the whole of Libya.

"Our fight continues,” said Sarraj who is backed by Turkey.

Late Thursday, LNA chief Khalifa Haftar's spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari confirmed his forces' "redeployment" away from the capital after more than a year of sometimes intense fighting.

He said the redeployment was a "humanitarian gesture intended to spare the Libyan people further bloodshed".

US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland expressed hope that the intensified diplomatic activity and the case-fire talks, announced this week by the UN, could help the sides reach an agreement.

“What makes it different now is that the escalation is in such a dangerous stage that cooler heads can and should prevail,” he told reporters on Thursday.



Netanyahu Says Israel Is Establishing a New Security Corridor across Gaza

An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Says Israel Is Establishing a New Security Corridor across Gaza

An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Wednesday, he described it as the Morag corridor, using the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, suggesting it would run between the two southern cities.

His comments came as Palestinian officials at hospitals inside Gaza said Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday had killed more than 40 people, nearly a dozen of them children.

The Israeli government has long maintained a buffer zone just inside Gaza along its security fence and has greatly expanded since the war against Hamas began in 2023. Israel says the buffer zone is needed for its security, while Palestinians view it as a land grab that further shrinks the narrow coastal territory, home to around 2 million people.