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Misrata Faces Tensions as Libya Decides on Leadership

Deputy head of the GNA Ahmed Maiteeq, Facebook
Deputy head of the GNA Ahmed Maiteeq, Facebook
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Misrata Faces Tensions as Libya Decides on Leadership

Deputy head of the GNA Ahmed Maiteeq, Facebook
Deputy head of the GNA Ahmed Maiteeq, Facebook

Since the onset of the last decade, the northwestern Libyan city of Misrata has occupied a prominent position and played a remarkable role in the North African country’s history.

Located 200 kilometers east of the capital, Tripoli, Misrata helped in overthrowing the regime in 2011 and took over a leading role in the country’s political scene and military arena.

Ahead of political turbulence created by the competition to head a prospective Libyan government, Misrata is on course to experience some tensions.

Fathi Bashagha, former interior minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA) and Ahmed Maiteeq, deputy head of the GNA, both from Misrata, have submitted their applications following decision by parliament on Monday to replace incumbent Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.

Therefore, according to observers’ expectations, the scene may open to a new conflict that armed formations may be pushed into, if necessary.

The Libyan parliament has set February 8 as the date to vote for the Libyan Prime Minister’s replacement.

Dbeibeh, in power since February last year, is accused of failing to organize the general elections that were supposed to take place in December 2021.

The two presidential candidates, Bashagha and Maiteeq, in addition to Marwan Omeish, are competing to head the new government.

Dbeibeh has accused Parliament Speaker Aqila Saleh of trying to bring back division and fragmentation to the country after the latter had called for replacing the premier based on the GNA’s mandate presumably ending.

In the face of this tense atmosphere, an independent political spectrum in Misrata that does not follow neither Bashagha nor Dbeibeh warns against the two sharing the loyalties of many militias in Misrata and Tripoli.

This increases fears of resorting to armed groups and having Libya’s west sink into another cycle of bloody clashes.

Misrata hosts the largest force of equipment and armed formations that previously played a major role in repelling National Army forces from entering the capital, Tripoli, in the war that erupted on April 4, 2019.

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Head of ISIS in Iraq and Syria Has Been Killed, Iraqi Prime Minister Says

This handout picture released by the Iraqi Prime Minister's press office shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) meeting with Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani in Baghdad on March 14, 2025. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Iraqi Prime Minister's press office shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) meeting with Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani in Baghdad on March 14, 2025. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office / AFP)
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Head of ISIS in Iraq and Syria Has Been Killed, Iraqi Prime Minister Says

This handout picture released by the Iraqi Prime Minister's press office shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) meeting with Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani in Baghdad on March 14, 2025. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Iraqi Prime Minister's press office shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) meeting with Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani in Baghdad on March 14, 2025. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office / AFP)

The head of ISIS in Iraq and Syria has been killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister announced Friday.

“The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism,” Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or “Abu Khadija,” was “deputy caliph” of the militant group and as “one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world," the statement said.

A security official said the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, in western Iraq. A second official said the operation took place Thursday night but that al-Rifai's death was confirmed Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The announcement came on the same day as the first visit by Syria’s top diplomat to Iraq, during which the two countries pledged to work together to combat ISIS.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said at a news conference that “there are common challenges facing Syrian and Iraqi society, and especially the terrorists of ISIS.” He said the officials had spoken “in detail about the movements of ISIS, whether on the Syrian-Iraqi border, inside Syria or inside Iraq” during the visit.

Hussein referred to an operations room formed by Syria, Iraq, Türkiye, Jordan and Lebanon at a recent meeting in Amman to confront ISIS, and said it would soon begin work.

The relationship between Iraq and Syria is somewhat fraught after the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Sudani came to power with the support of a coalition of Iran-backed factions, and Tehran was a major backer of Assad.

The current interim president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani and fought as an al-Qaeda militant in Iraq after the US invasion of 2003, and later fought against Assad's government in Syria.

But Syrian interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani focused on the historic ties between the two countries.

“Throughout history, Baghdad and Damascus have been the capitals of the Arab and Islamic world, sharing knowledge, culture and economy,” he said.

Strengthening the partnership between the two countries “will not only benefit our peoples, but will also contribute to the stability of the region, making us less dependent on external powers and better able to determine our own destiny,” he said.

The operation and the visit come at a time when Iraqi officials are anxious about an ISIS resurgence in the wake of the fall of Assad in Syria.

While Syria’s new rulers have pursued ISIS cells since taking power, some fear a breakdown in overall security that could allow the group to stage a resurgence.

The US and Iraq announced an agreement last year to wind down the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the ISIS group by September 2025, with US forces departing some bases where they have stationed troops during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.

When the agreement was reached to end the coalition’s mission in Iraq, Iraqi political leaders said the threat of ISIS was under control and they no longer needed Washington’s help to beat back the remaining cells.

But the fall of Assad in December led some to reassess that stance, including members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-allied political parties that brought al-Sudani to power in late 2022.