Libyan Army Says ‘Ready for Any Military Act’

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the El Sharara oilfield, Libya December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the El Sharara oilfield, Libya December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo
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Libyan Army Says ‘Ready for Any Military Act’

FILE PHOTO: A general view of the El Sharara oilfield, Libya December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view of the El Sharara oilfield, Libya December 3, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny/File Photo

The Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar has pledged to deter Turkish forces that are backing Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya’s war.

The LNA is “ready for any military act,” it announced on Friday.

Its statement came as Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) lifted force majeure on all oil exports as a Vitol tanker loaded at Es Sider after a half-year standstill.

"The increase in production will take a long time," NOC said.

NOC chief Mustafa Sanalla welcomed the resumption of oil production, saying: "We are very glad finally to be able to take this important step to national recovery."

The US embassy hailed news that the NOC had lifted force majeure "and resumed its vital work on behalf of all Libyans."

It vowed to cooperate with the UN mission in Libya to ensure "revenues are not misappropriated but rather preserved for the benefit of the Libyan people".

France's embassy also rejected "the militarization of oil installations" and stressed "the importance of preserving NOC neutrality".

Libya produced 1.22 million barrels per day (bpd) before January and had planned to increase production to 2.1 million bpd by 2024, the NOC said this week.



UN: Nearly 70% of Verified Gaza War Dead Are Women and Children

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
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UN: Nearly 70% of Verified Gaza War Dead Are Women and Children

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo

The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday nearly 70% of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
The UN tally since the start of the war, in which Israel's military is fighting Hamas militants, includes only fatalities it has managed to verify with three sources, and counting continues.

The 8,119 victims verified is a much lower number than the toll of over 43,000 provided by Palestinian health authorities for the 13-month-old war. But the UN breakdown of the victims' age and gender backs the Palestinian assertion that women and children represent a large portion of those killed in the war.

This finding indicates "a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality," the UN rights office said in a statement accompanying the 32-page report.

"It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence are collected and preserved," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment on the report's findings.

"Our monitoring indicates that this unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians is a direct consequence of the failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law," Turk said in a statement.

"Tragically, these documented patterns of violations continue unabated, over one year after the start of the war."

His office found that about 80 percent of all the verified deaths in Gaza had occurred in Israeli attacks on residential buildings or similar housing, and that close to 90 percent had died in incidents that killed five or more people.