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Russia Calls for Deeper Military Ties with Libya

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu shakes hands with Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Moscow. (AP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu shakes hands with Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Moscow. (AP)
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Russia Calls for Deeper Military Ties with Libya

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu shakes hands with Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Moscow. (AP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu shakes hands with Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Moscow. (AP)

Russia has welcomed the prospect of renewed military cooperation with Libya as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu hosted Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

“I consider your Moscow visit to be the first step towards resuming full-scale cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries,” Shoigu told the Libyan prime minister in remarks released by his ministry.

Shoigu said he hoped that “the Russia-friendly Libyan people would overcome the years-long crisis which has broken out as a result of crude outside interference.”

Dbeibah and Mohammed Younes Menfi, chairman of Libya’s Presidential Council, face the task of trying to reunify the institutions of a state undermined by divisions between the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli and a rival administration backed by military leader Khalifa Haftar in the east, AFP reported.

Moscow has backed Haftar against the GNA in the conflict and has been accused of sending mercenaries of the Wagner Group private military company to join the fight.

Russia said in February it is prepared for “constructive” work with Libya’s interim leaders.

Dbeibah for his part said Libya needed Moscow’s support and expressed gratitude for President Vladimir Putin’s backing.

Libya has been gripped by chaos for almost a decade, since its leader Muammar Qaddafi was brought down and killed in a 2011 supported by a number of western countries.

In February, Libya embarked on a new phase of its post-Qaddafi transition after interim leaders were selected to lead the country until December elections.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.