Libyan Army: 80 GNA Fighters Killed in Sirte Battles

Fighters loyal to the GNA pose for a group picture as they celebrate in the town of Tarhouna, about 65 kilometres southeast of the capital Tripoli on June 5, 2020. (Photo by Mahmud TURKIA / AFP)
Fighters loyal to the GNA pose for a group picture as they celebrate in the town of Tarhouna, about 65 kilometres southeast of the capital Tripoli on June 5, 2020. (Photo by Mahmud TURKIA / AFP)
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Libyan Army: 80 GNA Fighters Killed in Sirte Battles

Fighters loyal to the GNA pose for a group picture as they celebrate in the town of Tarhouna, about 65 kilometres southeast of the capital Tripoli on June 5, 2020. (Photo by Mahmud TURKIA / AFP)
Fighters loyal to the GNA pose for a group picture as they celebrate in the town of Tarhouna, about 65 kilometres southeast of the capital Tripoli on June 5, 2020. (Photo by Mahmud TURKIA / AFP)

The Libyan National Army’s media division declared that operations resumed Thursday through airstrikes that targeted sites of “militias and Turkish mercenaries” in As Saddadah, east of Misrata.

Brigadier-General Khalid al-Mahjoub said that more than 80 armed men fighting with the Government of National Accord (GNA) were killed in Sirte.

The fighters include Turkish soldiers, pro-Ankara mercenaries, and terrorist groups.

The Media Center of LNA’s Dignity Operations Room revealed that the strike resulted in casualties among “mercenaries and militants.”

Moreover, the LNA intensified airstrikes to foil the GNA’s efforts to move to the east and take over Sirte.

The Volcano of Rage Operation - launched by the GNA forces – revealed that it seized a major 350-km supply line linking the south to the west of Libya. This supply line was used for a year by the LNA during its attempts to liberate the capital Tripoli.

GNA’s Ministry of Interior accused the LNA of abducting a brigadier general from Sirte.

The ministry warned that it will not turn a blind eye to the kidnapping, calling on international and rights organizations and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to take action.

Despite the ongoing clashes between the GNA forces and the LNA in Misrata and Sirte, UNSMIL revealed that both parties’ delegations have engaged in the 3rd round of the Joint Military Commission (5 + 5) talks.

“While UNSMIL commends the seriousness and the commitment of both parties in the JMC dialogue track, it calls on them to de-escalate to avoid further civilian casualties and new waves of displacement,” it said.

The Mission is particularly concerned by reports of escalation and mobilization in and around Sirte.

Both meetings - which were conducted virtually - were productive and enabled UNSMIL to discuss with the delegations the latest developments on the ground and to receive their comments on the draft ceasefire agreement, as presented by the Mission to the parties on February 23.



Evidence of Ongoing 'Crimes Against Humanity' in Darfur, Says ICC Deputy Prosecutor

A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
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Evidence of Ongoing 'Crimes Against Humanity' in Darfur, Says ICC Deputy Prosecutor

A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo

There are "reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity" are being committed in war-ravaged Sudan's western Darfur region, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said.

Outlining her office's probe of the devastating conflict which has raged since 2023, Nazhat Shameem Khan told the UN Security Council that it was "difficult to find appropriate words to describe the depth of suffering in Darfur," AFP reported.

"On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear. We have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity, have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur," she said.

The prosecutor's office focused its probe on crimes committed in West Darfur, Khan said, interviewing victims who fled to neighboring Chad.

She detailed an "intolerable" humanitarian situation, with apparent targeting of hospitals and humanitarian convoys, while warning that "famine is escalating" as aid is unable to reach "those in dire need."

"People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized," Khan said, adding that abductions for ransom had become "common practice."

"And yet we should not be under any illusion, things can still get worse."

The Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005, with some 300,000 people killed during conflict in the region in the 2000s.

In 2023, the ICC opened a fresh probe into war crimes in Darfur after a new conflict erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF's predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide two decades ago in the vast western region.

ICC judges are expected to deliver their first decision on crimes committed in Darfur two decades ago in the case of Ali Mohamed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kosheib, after the trial ended in 2024.

"I wish to be clear to those on the ground in Darfur now, to those who are inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population -- they may feel a sense of impunity at this moment, as Ali Kosheib may have felt in the past," said Khan.

"But we are working intensively to ensure that the Ali Kosheib trial represents only the first of many in relation to this situation at the International Criminal Court," she added.