LNA Targets Terrorists in South Libya

Libyan National Army (LNA) members pose for a picture (File photo: Reuters)
Libyan National Army (LNA) members pose for a picture (File photo: Reuters)
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LNA Targets Terrorists in South Libya

Libyan National Army (LNA) members pose for a picture (File photo: Reuters)
Libyan National Army (LNA) members pose for a picture (File photo: Reuters)

Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, launched several airstrikes against ISIS terrorists in al-Haruj Mountains, in southwest Libya.

The National Army did not comment on the operation, but its Military Information Division issued a brief statement announcing that the air force launched a series of raids on a site of terrorist groups in the mountains.

Last Thursday, LNA spokesman Major General Ahmed al-Mismari announced a military operation against terrorists in the south of the country, after the commander of al-Waw Brigade, Ali al-Tabawi was killed by a landmine explosion during a reconnaissance patrol in the Haruj Mountains.

ISIS remnants reside only in the deserts in southern Libya, after they were active in separate parts of the country. Over four years ago, forces affiliated with the Tripoli government launched a major offensive to liberate Sirte, ISIS’ main stronghold.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) called upon members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) to convene in person in Switzerland on June 28, hours before the meeting of the 5 + 5 Joint Military Committee (JMC) in Sirte.

The JMC meeting on Sunday will include LNA representatives and forces affiliated with the unity government headed by Abdulhamid Dbeibeh.

The Military Committee will hold its fifth meeting at its headquarters in Sirte to resume discussion of the ceasefire mechanism, which was signed in Geneva in October 2020.

The meeting will also discuss the reports of the security and police sub-committees and the removal of mines, ahead of opening the Sirte-Misrata coastal road.

The committee will address removing foreign mercenaries from Libyan territory.

However, LNA commander Major General Khaled al-Mahjoub and JMC member Major General Khairy al-Tamimi denied any positive development in the issue of removing mercenaries and foreign forces from Libyan territories.

They said in televised statements that the interests of the countries involved in Libya, in addition to the mercenary issue, prevent a breakthrough in the meetings of the committee.

Furthermore, the spokesman for the Volcano of Rage operation announced that the opening of the coastal road will take place soon, after reaching an agreement between the government and the Sirte-Jufra Liberation Operations Room.

Earlier, head of the Presidential Council Mohammed Menfi asked his loyal forces to open the coastal road. However, they demanded the redeployment of LNA in the vicinity of the road linking the east and west of the country, and the withdrawal of its “loyal mercenaries”.



Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Women and Children Scavenge for Food in Gaza, UN Official Says

 Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk on a destroyed street after Israeli forces withdrew from a part of Nuseirat, following a ground operation amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, November 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Large groups of women and children are scavenging for food among mounds of trash in parts of the Gaza Strip, a UN official said on Friday following a visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressed concern about the levels of hunger, even in areas of central Gaza where aid agencies have teams on the ground.

"I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger," Sunghay told a Geneva press briefing via video link from Jordan. "Acquiring basic necessities has become a daily, dreadful struggle for survival."

Sunghay said the UN had been unable to take any aid to northern Gaza, where he said an estimated 70,000 people remain following "repeated impediments or rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities".

Sunghay visited camps for people recently displaced from parts of northern Gaza. They were living in horrendous conditions with severe food shortages and poor sanitation, he said.

"It is so obvious that massive humanitarian aid needs to come in – and it is not. It is so important the Israeli authorities make this happen," he said. He did not specify the last time UN agencies had sent aid to northern Gaza.

US WARNING

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set out steps last month for Israel to carry out in 30 days to address the situation in Gaza, warning that failure to do so may have consequences on US military aid to Israel.

The State Department said on Nov. 12 that President Joe Biden's administration had concluded that Israel was not currently impeding assistance to Gaza and therefore was not violating US law.

The Israeli army, which began its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities in October 2023, said its operating in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 were trying to prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas.

Israel's government body that oversees aid, Cogat, says it facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and accuses UN agencies of not distributing it efficiently.

Looting has also depleted aid supplies within the Gaza Strip, with nearly 100 food aid trucks raided on Nov. 16.

"The women I met had all either lost family members, were separated from their families, had relatives buried under rubble, or were themselves injured or sick," Sunghay said of his stay in the Gaza Strip.

"Breaking down in front of me, they desperately pleaded for a ceasefire."