عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Sarraj Heads to Rome Again as Turkey ‘Summons’ his Senior Military Officials

GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj during a visit to Ankara, Turkey, on June 4, 2020. (AFP)
GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj during a visit to Ankara, Turkey, on June 4, 2020. (AFP)
TT
TT

Sarraj Heads to Rome Again as Turkey ‘Summons’ his Senior Military Officials

GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj during a visit to Ankara, Turkey, on June 4, 2020. (AFP)
GNA chief Fayez al-Sarraj during a visit to Ankara, Turkey, on June 4, 2020. (AFP)

Libya has witnessed a flurry of developments in recent days, capped on Thursday with Government of National Accord (GNA) chief Fayez al-Sarraj’s surprise visit to Rome – his second in a month.

Italian media noted that the two-day visit was supposed to have been a formal trip.

Sarraj was then expected to then travel to Turkey, a main backer of the GNA.

A delegation of his senior military officials had arriving in Turkey before him for expanded security talks. It includes Defense Minister Salah al-Namroush, Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, High Council of State chief Khalid al-Mishri, head of the intelligence agency Emad al-Trabulsi, and 16 militia leaders.

Sources close to the GNA said the meeting is aimed at resolving disputes within the GNA and its forces before their withdrawal from frontlines with the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the cities of Sirte al-Jufra.

Unofficial sources said the meeting was aimed at preparing an “imminent military operation.”

Libyan media said that Turkey had “summoned” the delegation for an emergency meeting three weeks before a deadline for foreign forces and mercenaries to pull out from the chaos-ravaged country.

The withdrawal was part of a UN-brokered ceasefire agreement reached between the LNA and GNA in Geneva in October.

The 5+5 military committee, which includes LNA and GNA representatives, is expected to hold a decisive meeting in Sirte next week, revealed informed sources without elaborating.

Meanwhile, GNA commander of Sirte al-Jufra operations Ibrahim Bayt al-Mal expressed his “great disappointment” with the alleged heavy deployment of pro-LNA “Wagner gangs and Janjaweed fighters” near the frontlines.

In a statement on Wednesday, he doubted that the LNA and its affiliated fighters would commit to the ceasefire, citing the failure to pull out the mercenaries.

LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari denied the deployment of any such forces, hoping that all pending problems would be resolved “to end the large conspiracy that is leading the country towards division.”

He described the situation as calm on the Sirte front, saying the LNA has pushed back “Turkey-backed mercenaries.”

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Displaced Gazans Mass at Israeli Barrier Waiting to Reach North

The crowds were gathered on the coastal road near Nuseirat hoping to be permitted to return to north Gaza - AFP
The crowds were gathered on the coastal road near Nuseirat hoping to be permitted to return to north Gaza - AFP
TT
TT

Displaced Gazans Mass at Israeli Barrier Waiting to Reach North

The crowds were gathered on the coastal road near Nuseirat hoping to be permitted to return to north Gaza - AFP
The crowds were gathered on the coastal road near Nuseirat hoping to be permitted to return to north Gaza - AFP

A vast crowd of Gazans massed near an Israeli military barrier preventing them from heading to their homes in the north on Sunday amid a row between Hamas and Israel over the terms of their ceasefire deal.

Aerial footage from AFPTV showed the crowd fanning out for hundreds of meters from a junction on a coastal road in the Nuseirat area and spilling onto a nearby beach.

Dotted among the crowd were water tankers, ambulances, donkey carts, TV crews and their vehicles, and dozens of tents in which displaced Gazans sat and waited for permission to continue their journey.

AFP journalists at the scene said the mass of people stretched for three kilometers (1.9 miles) along Al-Rashid Road, with Gaza police preventing civilians from getting close to the Israelis, whose jets and drones flew overhead.

A few kilometers inland, hundreds of Palestinian families were waiting next to their cars in a long traffic jam on Salah al-Din Street, with everything they owned piled in great mounds atop their vehicles and strapped down tight.

"Tens of thousands of displaced people are waiting near the Netzarim Corridor to return to the northern Gaza Strip," Gaza civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, with Israel refusing to allow them through in a dispute over a hostage release.

Ismail al-Thawabtah, director general of the government media office in Hamas-run Gaza, also said there were tens of thousands waiting at the junction.

He put the total number of Gazans wanting to return to the north at "between 615,000 and 650,000", with two-thirds of them likely to use the coastal road.

The Netzarim Corridor is a seven-kilometer strip of land militarized by Israel that bisects the Gaza Strip from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea. The corridor cuts off the north from the rest of the territory.

Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire, which began a week ago.

As part of the deal, Israel was due to let displaced Gazans cross the corridor and return to their homes, with Hamas officials saying this would happen on Saturday.

Israel, however, accused Hamas of reneging on the deal by not releasing hostage Arbel Yehud on Saturday. Yehud was one the 251 hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

As a civilian woman, Yehud "was supposed to be released" as part of the second hostage-prisoner swap under the truce deal, a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"Israel will not allow the passage of Gazans to the northern part of the Gaza Strip until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud... is arranged," it added.

Two Hamas sources told AFP on Saturday that Yehud was "alive and in good health", with one source saying she would be "released as part of the third swap set for next Saturday", on February 1.

Hamas on Sunday said Israel blocking returns to the north amounted to a truce violation, adding it has provided "all the necessary guarantees" for Yehud's release.

On the other side of the corridor in north Gaza was Bashar Naser, a 28-year-old from Jabalia, who had been waiting for his relatives since early morning.

"We want to welcome them and celebrate... this is a great joy."