Libya’s GNA Says Ready to Counter ‘Any Attack’

Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
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Libya’s GNA Says Ready to Counter ‘Any Attack’

Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

The forces of Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) said they were “ready” to counter any attack on Sirte and Jufra.

Meanwhile, Turkish troops appeared in photos published by local Libyan media while searching for mines or ordnance left behind from the war in the vicinity of the GNA-run al-Watiya airbase in southwestern Libya.

Websites specialized in monitoring air traffic and military flights have noticed an increasing activity for Turkish cargo planes landing at the base.

Italy’s Itamilradar website tracked a Turkish warplane landing at the base.

At least 36 such flights have been monitored in the past two weeks.

Separately, the Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, received on Wednesday a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The meeting was held at Haftar’s headquarters in al-Rajma, in the eastern city of Benghazi, his office announced, noting that the two parties discussed means to bolster bilateral cooperation.

It said this comes as part of a series of meetings held in line with international scientific support and cooperation with the LNA forces.

In other news, Spokesman for the GNA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mohammed al-Qiblawi announced on Tuesday that Libya had refused to take over the chairmanship of the Arab League’s current session.

Libya will be looking forward to exercising its right under better circumstances and reserves its right to the presidency under the procedural rules of the Arab League, he said.



Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)

Two French investigating magistrates have issued an arrest warrant against ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes, the second such move by France's judicial authorities, a source said on Tuesday.

Assad, who was ousted late last year in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, is held responsible in the warrant issued on Monday as "commander-in-chief of the armed forces" for a bombing in the Syrian city of Daraa in 2017 that killed a civilian, a source close to the case, asking not to be named, told AFP.

This mandate was issued as part of an investigation into the case of Salah Abou Nabout, a 59-year-old Franco-Syrian national and former French teacher, who was killed on June 7, 2017 following the bombing of his home by Syrian army helicopters.

The French judiciary considers that Assad ordered and provided the means for this attack, according to the source.

Six senior Syrian army officials are already the target of French arrest warrants over the case in an investigation that began in 2018.

"This case represents the culmination of a long fight for justice, in which I and my family believed from the start," said Omar Abou Nabout, the victim's son, in a statement.

He expressed hope that "a trial will take place and that the perpetrators will be arrested and judged, wherever they are".

French authorities in November 2023 issued a first arrest warrant against Assad over chemical attacks in 2013 where more than a thousand people, according to American intelligence, were killed by sarin gas.

While considering Assad's participation in these attacks "likely", public prosecutors last year issued an appeal against the warrant on the grounds that Assad should have immunity as a head of state.

However, his ouster has now changed his status and potential immunity. Assad and his family fled to Russia after his fall, according to Russian authorities.