US Says Haftar Committed to Ending Oil Blockade

Khalifa Haftar Photographer: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
Khalifa Haftar Photographer: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
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US Says Haftar Committed to Ending Oil Blockade

Khalifa Haftar Photographer: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
Khalifa Haftar Photographer: Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images

Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar said he was committed to ending a months-long blockade of oil facilities, the US Embassy in the country revealed in a statement Saturday.

It said the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) had conveyed "the personal commitment of General Haftar to allow the full reopening of the energy sector no later than Sept. 12."

In a letter to Haftar, US Ambassador to Tripoli Richard Norland noted that the embassy said that “in recent discussions with a broad range of Libyan leaders” it had backed “a financial model that would constitute a credible guarantee that oil and gas revenues would be managed transparently”.

“The Embassy welcomes what appears to be a Libyan consensus that it is time to reopen the energy sector,” it added.

Meanwhile, Libyans are suffering a severe crisis in the electricity sector due to the blockade in addition to the pandemic and the threat posed by foreign mercenaries and armed groups on the energy infrastructure.

Chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanallah stressed during his meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas - days earlier - the urgent need to put an end promptly to the blockade of oil facilities in Libya.

Maas, for his part, called for ending the blockade and added that his country is following up on all exerted efforts in this regard.

Haftar’s LNA and its backers imposed the blockade during January, reducing Libya’s oil output from more than one million barrels per day (bpd) to less than 100,000 bpd, and further deepening Libya’s economic collapse.



Israeli Security Service Says 60 Hamas Members Arrested in West Bank

An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Security Service Says 60 Hamas Members Arrested in West Bank

An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel's security service said Sunday it had broken up a network of Hamas militants in the occupied West Bank suspected of planning attacks, arresting 60 of the group's members.

The Shin Bet internal security agency said in a statement that "a significant, complex, and large-scale Hamas infrastructure was exposed" in the West Bank town of Hebron, AFP reported.

It said it broke up 10 militant cells that "operated to carry out attacks in various formats in the immediate time frame".

Hamas leaders "worked to recruit, arm, and train additional Hamas operatives from the area to carry out shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli targets", according to the statement.

Shin Bet said the three-month joint operation with the military and police was its biggest investigation in the West Bank "in the past decade".

It said terrorism charges were being filed against the suspects.