Calls to Reveal Whereabouts of 100 Missing Tunisians in Libya

Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi (Getty Images)
Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi (Getty Images)
TT

Calls to Reveal Whereabouts of 100 Missing Tunisians in Libya

Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi (Getty Images)
Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi (Getty Images)

A Tunisian human rights association has called for revealing the fate and whereabouts of Tunisians stranded and missing in Libya.

Some associations and human rights organizations estimate the number of Tunisians stranded in Libya at about 100, some of whom are in prisons on terrorism charges while others are believed to be in shelters.

Head of the Rescue Association of Tunisians Trapped Abroad (RATTA) Mohamed Iqbal Ben Rejeb issued a statement demanding the formation of a joint Tunisian-Libyan committee to search for the missing Tunisians in Libya and settle issues that have been pending for years now.

This comes in line with Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi’s official three-day visit to Tunis upon President Kais Saied’s invitation.

The senior officials discussed the frozen Libyan funds in Tunis, while Tunisian officials raised the issue of security cooperation and the pursuit of terrorist organizations infiltrating across borders.

Tunis attaches great importance to security matters, especially that it has data claiming that perpetrators of some of the terrorist attacks in the country were trained in Libyan camps.

Matters linked to the stranded Tunisian journalists, Sofiene Chourabi and Nadir Ktari, have been continuously followed up, especially by active civil society organizations.

Tunisia’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly announced pursuing this issue with relevant Libyan parties. However, no clear information has been given in this regard.



Iran FM to Visit Syria, Türkiye as Tehran, Moscow Back Damascus Regime against Opposition Advances

 Opposition fighters step on a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo, Syria, late Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP)
Opposition fighters step on a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo, Syria, late Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP)
TT

Iran FM to Visit Syria, Türkiye as Tehran, Moscow Back Damascus Regime against Opposition Advances

 Opposition fighters step on a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo, Syria, late Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP)
Opposition fighters step on a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo, Syria, late Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP)

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will visit Damascus on Sunday, before visiting Türkiye as part of a regional tour, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told state media on Saturday.

Earlier, Araqchi and his Russian counterpart voiced support for Syria on during a major attack by opposition groups, Iranian state media reported.  

Araqchi told Russia's Sergei Lavrov in a phone call that the attacks were part of an Israeli-US plan to destabilize the region, state media said.  

According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry about the call, both sides "expressed extreme concern about the dangerous escalation of the situation in Syria due to the terrorist offensive by armed groups in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces".  

The ministers agreed on the need to intensify joint efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation in Syria.  

Iran's foreign ministry also condemned what it called "aggression by terrorist elements" against its consulate in Syria's city of Aleppo during the current opposition advances, Iranian state media reported.  

"The consul-general and all members of the consulate of Iran in Aleppo are in good health," spokesperson Baghaei told state media.  

Earlier on Saturday, Russia's Lavrov spoke on the matter with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan.  

For his part, Fidan spoke by phone with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Saturday to discuss the situation in Syria, Turkish Foreign Ministry sources said.  

He also spoke with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.