Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi’s Statements Raise Suspicions

A circulated photo of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, attributed to the New York Times.
A circulated photo of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, attributed to the New York Times.
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Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi’s Statements Raise Suspicions

A circulated photo of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, attributed to the New York Times.
A circulated photo of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, attributed to the New York Times.

Statements attributed to Saif al-Islam, the second son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, have divided Libyans who questioned the authenticity of circulated photos of him.

Saif al-Islam has not been seen since his release by Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Brigade in 2017.

Supporters of the former regime celebrated the alleged appearance of Saif al-Islam, despite the objections of some to his interview with the New York Times, which it said was conducted last Ramadan and which carried criticism and insults against the Libyan people.

“I’ve been away from the Libyan people for 10 years. You need to come back slowly, slowly. Like a striptease. You need to play with their minds a little,” Saif told the newspaper.

Khaled Al-Ghail, foreign affairs advisor to the head of the Supreme Council of Libyan Tribes and Cities, and a former regime loyalist, said: “Soon to the lights...stay tuned for the next.”

For his part, Saad al-Senussi al-Barasi, a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the photos were of Saif al-Islam.

He described skeptics as “the enemies of the nation, and those who cling to power.”

If authentic, only part of Saif al-Islam’s face appears in the photos. The man has a long gray beard. The photos do not show the severed thumb and forefinger of his right hand.

He was dressed in a gilded black cloak, a scarf neatly draped around his head, and sat on a stately chair. The newspaper also reported that he lived in a two-story villa, which appeared to be luxurious.

Gaddafi saw that the administration of former US President Barack Obama, and not his father, was to blame for the destruction that befell Libya.

In the interview, which was titled, “Son of Gaddafi is still alive and wants to restore the lost unity of Libya,” Saif al-Islam described the spring and summer of 2011 as a series of surreal crises.

Ashraf Boudwara, head of the Preparatory Committee for the National Conference, said that the man in the picture was Al-Saadi Gaddafi, “not his brother Saif al-Islam.”

He asked: “I don’t know what the purpose of this interview is at this time?”

He went on to say: “If Saif Gaddafi is alive and doing well, even if he is sick and paralyzed, let him address his father's supporters, or give a speech in audio and video, instead of having it delivered by his lawyer on his behalf.”



Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.