Libya's Bashagha Admits his Government Failed to Enter Tripoli

Fighters affiliated with the Dbeibeh government train on securing Tripoli, Libya (AP)
Fighters affiliated with the Dbeibeh government train on securing Tripoli, Libya (AP)
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Libya's Bashagha Admits his Government Failed to Enter Tripoli

Fighters affiliated with the Dbeibeh government train on securing Tripoli, Libya (AP)
Fighters affiliated with the Dbeibeh government train on securing Tripoli, Libya (AP)

Libya’s parliament-appointed prime minister, Fathi Bashagha, has admitted the government’s failure to conduct its daily business from the capital Tripoli nearly eight months after its formation.

Bashagha said in a speech in Benghazi, after concluding his tour abroad, that the cabinet will exercise its duties from Sirte and Benghazi, adding that the government rejects sedition.

He asserted that the government works for all Libyans, accusing some parties of wanting to create chaos and division.

Bashagha stressed that the government would serve all Libyans to achieve national reconciliation, despite many difficulties.

The government tried to stay in Tripoli to carry out its duties but wanted to avoid bloodshed and sedition, and decided to return peacefully despite people's suffering in the capital and the Libyan West in general, explained Bashagha.

According to local media, Bashagha is scheduled to visit Cairo after meeting in Qobba with Speaker Aguila Saleh.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry of the Dbeibeh government announced that its Undersecretary for Public Affairs, Mahmoud Saeed, received a Libyan prisoner from the Ukrainian-Polish border, according to the prisoner exchange agreement signed with the Ukrainian government.

The ministry explained that a government committee recently deported and evacuated all the Libyan community in Ukraine, after a series of negotiations with the Ukrainian authorities last March.

All members of the Libyan community were deported and returned safely.

In addition, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) renewed its commitment to achieving peace in Libya through an inclusive Libyan-led and owned process.

Noting in a brief statement on the International Day of Peace, UNSMIL asserted it continues to work with all Libyan actors to advance the peace process and the elections the Libyan people demanded.

In New York, the head of the Presidential Council, Mohammed Menfi, participated in the consultative meeting held by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with African leaders, including President of Senegal, Macky Sall, in his capacity as President of the African Union (AU), and Chairperson of the African Commission, Moussa Faki.

Menfi praised Germany's role in supporting the political track in Libya through the Berlin conferences and the cooperation between Germany and Africa to support Libya's stability.

He also touched on the challenges of food security in Africa, especially in light of the current international crisis, and the importance of cooperation to overcome this crisis.

Menfi explained that after reaching stability, Libya could play a significant role in oil, energy, and environment, providing economic and investment opportunities, stopping illegal migration, and settling sustainable development in Africa.



Lebanon FM Urges Iran to Find ‘New Approach’ on Hezbollah Arms

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L) shakes hands with Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Raggi (R) at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 09 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L) shakes hands with Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Raggi (R) at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 09 January 2026. (EPA)
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Lebanon FM Urges Iran to Find ‘New Approach’ on Hezbollah Arms

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L) shakes hands with Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Raggi (R) at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 09 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (L) shakes hands with Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Raggi (R) at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, 09 January 2026. (EPA)

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi on Friday urged his visiting Iranian counterpart to find a "new approach" to the thorny issue of disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Lebanon is under heavy US pressure to disarm Hezbollah, which was heavily weakened in more than a year of hostilities with Israel that largely ended with a November 2024 ceasefire, but Iran and the group have expressed opposition to the move.

Iran has long wielded substantial influence in Lebanon by funding and arming Hezbollah, but as the balance of power shifted since the recent conflict, officials have been more critical towards Tehran.

"The defense of Lebanon is the sole responsibility of the Lebanese state", which must have a monopoly on weapons, Raggi told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a Lebanese foreign ministry statement said.

Raggi called on Iran to engage in talks with Lebanon to find "a new approach to the issue of Hezbollah's weapons, drawing on Iran's relationship with the party, so that these weapons do not become a pretext for weakening Lebanon".

He asked Araghchi "whether Tehran would accept the presence of an illegal armed organization on its own territory".

Last month, Raggi declined an invitation to visit Iran and proposed meeting in a neutral third country.

Lebanon's army said Thursday that it had completed the first phase of disarming Hezbollah, doing so in the south Lebanon area near the border with Israel, which called the efforts "far from sufficient".

Araghchi also met President Joseph Aoun on Friday and was set to hold talks with several other senior officials.

After arriving on Thursday, he visited the mausoleum of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli air strike on south Beirut in September 2024.

Last August, Lebanese leaders firmly rejected any efforts at foreign interference during a visit by Iran's security chief Ali Larijani, with the prime minister saying Beirut would "tolerate neither tutelage nor diktat" after Tehran voiced opposition to plans to disarm Hezbollah.


Hamas Says Israeli Strikes on Gaza ‘Cannot Happen without American Cover’

 Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)
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Hamas Says Israeli Strikes on Gaza ‘Cannot Happen without American Cover’

 Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP)

A Hamas official said Friday that Israeli strikes on Gaza "cannot happen without American cover", the day after Israeli attacks killed at least 13 people according to the Palestinian territory's civil defense agency.

Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations.

Gaza's civil defense agency -- which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority -- said Israeli attacks across the territory on Thursday killed at least 13 people, including five children.

In a statement on Friday morning, the Israeli military said it "precisely struck Hamas terrorists and terror infrastructure" in response to a "failed projectile" launch.

"Just yesterday, 13 people were killed in different areas of the Strip on fabricated pretexts, in addition to the hundreds of killed and wounded who preceded them after the ceasefire," Hamas political bureau member, Bassem Naim, wrote on Telegram.

"This cannot happen without American cover or a green light."

Israeli forces have killed at least 439 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The Israeli military said gunmen have killed three of its soldiers during the same period.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by both sides.

Naim also accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "evading his commitments and escalating in order to sabotage the agreement and return to war".

He said the Palestinian movement had "complied with all its obligations under the agreement" and was "ready to engage positively and constructively with the next steps of the plan".

Israel has previously said it is awaiting the return of the last hostage body held in Gaza before beginning talks on the second phase of the ceasefire and has insisted that Hamas disarm.

Hamas officials told AFP that search operations for the remains of deceased hostage Ran Gvili resumed on Wednesday after a two-week pause due to bad weather.


Germany Calls on Israel to Halt E1 Settlement Plan

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Germany Calls on Israel to Halt E1 Settlement Plan

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Germany calls on Israel to halt its controversial ​E1 settlement project, said a foreign ministry spokesperson in Berlin on Friday, warning that construction carries the risk of ‌creating more ‌instability in the ‌West ⁠Bank ​and ‌the region.

"The plans for the E1 settlement project, it must be said, are part of a comprehensive ⁠intensification of settlement policy in ‌the West Bank, ‍which ‍we have recently ‍observed," said the spokesperson at a regular government press conference.

"It carries the ​risk of creating even more instability, as it ⁠would further restrict the mobility of the Palestinian population in the West Bank," as well as jeopardize the prospects of a two-state solution, the spokesperson added.