Algeria to Reopen Border Crossing with Libya

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum. EPA
Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum. EPA
TT
20

Algeria to Reopen Border Crossing with Libya

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum. EPA
Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum. EPA

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum has said his country was finalizing logistical and technical preparations for the reopening of the Debdeb-Ghadames border crossing with Libya.

Boukadoum and Libyan Minister of Economy and Trade Mohamed Al-Hawij held on Saturday a press conference on the sidelines of the Algerian-Libyan Economic Forum.

The two countries are also finalizing the reopening of the maritime link between Algiers and Tripoli for the transportation of goods, Boukadoum said.

He renewed "Algeria's full support to the efforts of the Libyan authorities, represented by the Presidential Council and the Government of National Unity in order to restore political and security stability in Libya, achieve national reconciliation among all the Libyan people, and unify and strengthen state institutions."

He called for “holding free and fair general elections that preserve the Libyan territory’s integrity and unity, and put Libya back on the track of reconstruction, prosperity, and growth.”

"Algeria has hosted all the Libyan warring parties, from across the political spectrum, to bridge differences and find consensual solutions that the Libyans themselves must implement to protect their country from expansionism and foreign interference," he added.

Boukadoum reiterated that Algeria has taken measures to provide a legal and institutional framework for all businesspersons from both countries to implement projects for the benefit of the Libyan and Algerian people.



Lebanon Calls for Negotiations Following US Strikes on Iran

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
TT
20

Lebanon Calls for Negotiations Following US Strikes on Iran

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun

Following American strikes on Iran that fueled fears of a wider conflict, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Sunday that the US bombing could lead to a regional conflict that no country could bear and called for negotiations.

“Lebanon, its leadership, parties, and people, are aware today, more than ever before, that it has paid a heavy price for the wars that erupted on its land and in the region,” Aoun said in a statement on X. “It is unwilling to pay more”, he added.

Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced on Monday for Tehran's response to the US attack on its nuclear sites and US President Donald Trump raised the idea of regime change in Iran. Iran vowed to defend itself on Sunday, a day after the US joined Israel in the biggest Western military action against the country since its 1979 Iranian Revolution, despite calls for restraint and a return to diplomacy from around the world.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has long been considered Iran’s first line of defense in case of a war with Israel. But since Israel launched its massive barrage against Iran, triggering the ongoing Israel-Iran war, the Lebanese group has stayed out of the fray — even after the US entered the conflict Sunday with strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

Lebanese government officials have pressed the group to stay out of the conflict, saying that Lebanon cannot handle another damaging war, and US envoy Tom Barrack, who visited Lebanon last week, said it would be a “very bad decision” for Hezbollah to get involved.