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Libyan National Army Dismisses Ceasefire Push by Rivals

LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari. Reuters file photo
LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari. Reuters file photo
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Libyan National Army Dismisses Ceasefire Push by Rivals

LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari. Reuters file photo
LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari. Reuters file photo

The Libyan National Army (LNA) dismissed a ceasefire announcement by the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli as a marketing stunt on Sunday, saying rival forces were mobilizing around front lines in the center of the country.

LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said the army was ready to respond to any attempted attack on its positions around the coastal city of Sirte, and Jufra, to the south.

Mismari's comments were the first by the LNA after the announcement on Friday of a ceasefire and a call for the resumption of oil production by GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj.

"The initiative that Sarraj signed is for media marketing," Mismari said during a briefing for journalists. "There is a military build-up and the transfer of equipment to target our forces in Sirte."

"If Sarraj wanted a ceasefire, he would have drawn his forces back, not advanced towards our units in Sirte."

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Cyprus Leader Becomes First Foreign Dignitary to Visit Lebanon’s New President

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meets with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (L), at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meets with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (L), at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
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Cyprus Leader Becomes First Foreign Dignitary to Visit Lebanon’s New President

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meets with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (L), at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meets with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (L), at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, 10 January 2025. (EPA)

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides has become the foreign head of state and first foreign dignitary to pay an official visit to Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun.

Aoun, the former commander of the Lebanese army, was elected Thursday by the Lebanese parliament to fill a more than two-year vacuum in the presidency.

“I wanted to be the first to visit President Aoun and show, not in words but in actions that Cyprus stands by Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” Christodoulides told reporters afterward.

They discussed energy, security, trade and shipping, his office said in a written statement.

Cyprus and Lebanon have had close relations for decades. In recent years the two countries have been involved in intense discussions over border control, as many Syrian refugees living in Lebanon — and an increasing number of Lebanese since the country's major economic crisis began in 2019 — sought to reach Cyprus by sea in smuggler boats.

Cyprus is less than 200 kilometers (130 miles) from the Lebanese capital Beirut and they share maritime borders in waters where undersea natural gas deposits are believed to lie.