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US Pushes for Withdrawal of Foreign Forces from Libya before Elections

Turkish forces search for mines and explosives on the outskirts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli (Getty Images)
Turkish forces search for mines and explosives on the outskirts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli (Getty Images)
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US Pushes for Withdrawal of Foreign Forces from Libya before Elections

Turkish forces search for mines and explosives on the outskirts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli (Getty Images)
Turkish forces search for mines and explosives on the outskirts of the Libyan capital, Tripoli (Getty Images)

The US has renewed its call on the withdrawal of foreign forces from Libya before the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for December 24.

Reports indicated that Turkey and Russia began negotiating in Moscow on an agreement for a simultaneous withdrawal of foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libyan territories.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told the US Senate that Washington hopes to reach an agreement to withdraw mercenaries from Libya before the election date.

Nuland also said that Turkey and Russia want to withdraw mercenaries from Libya simultaneously, stressing that Washington is working with the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Jan Kubis, for this purpose.

Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar dispatched the head of his General Commander's Office, Khairi al-Tamimi, to Moscow, on a surprise visit to discuss the joint coordination on the sidelines of meetings between Russian and Turkish officials.

Meanwhile, the Libyan unity government, headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, intends to hold its first meeting in the southern city of Sabha next week.

Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Adel Jumaa announced that the government’s fifth regular meeting would be held in Sabha to identify the difficulties and challenges in the city.

Jumaa acknowledged the difficulties but asserted that the government is determined to find solutions to the city’s problems.

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Suspected US Strikes Overnight in Yemen Kill at Least 3 People

A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
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Suspected US Strikes Overnight in Yemen Kill at Least 3 People

A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

Suspected US airstrikes in Yemen overnight into Thursday killed at least three people, while the death toll in an earlier attack rose to 13 dead, the Iran-backed Houthi group said. The group meanwhile aired footage they said showed the debris left after shooting down yet another American MQ-9 Reaper drone.
The 13 killed in strikes Tuesday night around Hodeida's al-Hawak district made it one of the deadliest single incidents in the ongoing American campaign, the Houthis said. Another 15 people were wounded. The group described the majority of those killed as women and children, without providing a breakdown.
The area is home to the city's airport, which the Houthis have used in the past to target shipping in the Red Sea.
Since its start, the intense campaign of US airstrikes targeting the group over the attacks on shipping in Mideast waters — related to the Israel-Hamas war — has killed over 100 people, according to casualty figures released Wednesday by the Houthis.
Footage aired by the group’s al-Masirah satellite news channel showed chaotic scenes of people carrying wounded to waiting ambulances and rescuers searching by the light of their mobile phones. The target appeared in the footage to be a home in a residential neighborhood, likely part of a wider decapitation campaign launched by the Trump administration to kill Houthi leaders.
Early Thursday morning, the Houthis said airstrikes targeting the al-Sabeen District in the south of the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, killed at least three people. The area is home to al-Sabeen Square and a major mosque that has been a gathering point for months for Houthi demonstrations against the war in the Gaza Strip. Other strikes hit the capital as well.
More airstrikes hit Kamaran Island in the Red Sea, the Houthis said.
The US military's Central Command, which oversees American military operations, did not acknowledge the strikes. That follows a pattern for the command, which now has authorization from the White House to conduct strikes at will in the campaign that began March 15.
The American military also hasn't been providing any information on targets hit. The White House has said over 200 strikes have been conducted so far.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking in the Oval Office on Monday during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that America was “not going to relent” in its campaign targeting the Houthis.
Oil shipments targeted as US drone reportedly shot down

On Wednesday, the State Department said the US “will not tolerate any country or commercial entity providing support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Houthis, including offloading ships and provisioning oil at Houthi-controlled ports.” That likely will further squeeze the group, who already have had problems in their territory with bad gasoline destroying vehicle engines.
The Houthis also aired footage of the burning wreckage of what they described as an MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down in Yemen's al-Jawaf governorate. One man poked at the debris with a stick as those gathered chanted the Houthis' slogan: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
Central Command said it was aware of the report of the shoot down, but declined to answer further.
The Houthis say they shoot down the drones with locally made missiles. The Houthis have surface-to-air missiles — such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 — capable of downing aircraft.
Iran denies arming the Houthis, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi group despite a United Nations arms embargo.