US Imposes Sanctions on Libyans

FILE PHOTO: A sign marks the US Treasury Department in Washington, US, August 6, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
FILE PHOTO: A sign marks the US Treasury Department in Washington, US, August 6, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
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US Imposes Sanctions on Libyans

FILE PHOTO: A sign marks the US Treasury Department in Washington, US, August 6, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
FILE PHOTO: A sign marks the US Treasury Department in Washington, US, August 6, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

The US Treasury Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on three Libyans and a Malta-based company, accusing them of acting as a network of smugglers and contributing to instability in Libya.

The Treasury in a statement said it blacklisted Faysal al-Wadi, accusing him of having smuggled drugs and Libyan fuel into Malta.

Also blacklisted were two associates, Musbah Mohamad M Wadi and Nourddin Milood M Musbah, Malta-based company Alwefaq Ltd, and the vessel Maraya, which the Treasury said Wadi used in his smuggling operations.

The Treasury said that "competition for control of smuggling routes, oil facilities, and transport nodes is a key driver of conflict in Libya and deprives the Libyan people of economic resources."

Thursday's action freezes any US assets of those blacklisted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.

"Faysal al-Wadi and his associates have smuggled fuel from Libya and used Libya as a transit zone to smuggle illicit drugs," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich.

"The United States is committed to exposing illicit networks exploiting Libya’s resources for their own profit while hurting the Libyan people," he added.

In a related development, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed in a phone conversation the "importance of supporting a UN-brokered ceasefire in Libya through political and economic talks," the State Department said.



28 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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28 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said Saturday.

The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said. Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. The military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.

The Hamas-led group killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war. But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough.