Libya: Reports Emerge About Security Cooperation between Haftar, Dbeibeh

The head of the interim unity government, Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, in Tripoli (Unity Government)
The head of the interim unity government, Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, in Tripoli (Unity Government)
TT
20

Libya: Reports Emerge About Security Cooperation between Haftar, Dbeibeh

The head of the interim unity government, Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, in Tripoli (Unity Government)
The head of the interim unity government, Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, in Tripoli (Unity Government)

The Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and the head of the interim unity government, Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, are having "undisclosed" understandings to coordinate security and military cooperation ahead of the postponed presidential and parliamentary elections, according to informed sources.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the understandings resulted from undeclared meetings held outside Libya between representatives of Haftar and Dbeibeh.

They explained that based on these understandings, the Dbeibeh government would accelerate the dismantling and integrating of armed groups and militias within its security and military apparatus under army conditions.

The sources refused to disclose the place and timing of these meetings or who participated in them.

Based on the agreements, the LNA would allow the Interior Ministry to gradually assume security work under the army's control in the eastern and southern regions, as the government prevents any weapon outside the state's legitimacy.

Last week, interim Interior Minister Imad Trabelsi implicitly indicated his intention to extend the work of his affiliated agencies in the eastern and southern regions, but without going into details.

A source close to Haftar told Asharq Al-Awsat, on condition of anonymity, that the National Army was committed to its pledge to secure the elections and employ its capabilities in this context in cooperation with all local and international parties.

The source refused to disclose specific details and noted that lifting the ban on rearming the Libyan army would be necessary.

Other sources told the Italian agency Nova about forming a joint force from the National Army and the parties affiliated with the Dbeibeh government, which would be sent to the south as a first step towards reunifying the Libyan army.

They said that three battalions representing Tripoli, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan would be merged into this joint force to intervene in the southern regions, provided that its commander is responsible to the chiefs of staff of both parties.

The suggestion was discussed during a meeting of the Security Working Group on Libya, in the presence of members of the Libyan Joint Military Committee (5 + 5), the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, Western ambassadors, and African Union representatives.

Dbeibeh considered that some were trying to plunge Libya into chaos.

He pledged that his government would continue to support everything related to serving the Book of God, calling on the youth to adhere to moderate Islam and to distance themselves from extremism.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is preparing to choose the members of the joint committee (6 + 6), which would, together with the High Council of State, would develop the electoral laws.

Speaker Aguila Saleh’s political aide, Faisal Bualraika, reported that the session scheduled for the following Monday in Benghazi would witness the selection of committee members for the House of Representatives.

He told local media that Saleh would meet with Assistant Secretary Barbara Leaf and the British ambassador to Libya, Caroline Hurndall.

Saleh invited the House of Representatives members to an official session to discuss the general budget for the current year and name members of the joint committee to prepare draft election laws, according to Article 30 of the 13th constitutional amendment.



Israeli Strike Kills Children Near Gaza Clinic with No Immediate Truce in Sight

 A beam of light amid smoke and flames is seen resulting from an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A beam of light amid smoke and flames is seen resulting from an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

Israeli Strike Kills Children Near Gaza Clinic with No Immediate Truce in Sight

 A beam of light amid smoke and flames is seen resulting from an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A beam of light amid smoke and flames is seen resulting from an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. (Reuters)

An Israeli airstrike hit Palestinians near a medical center in Gaza on Thursday, killing 10 children and six adults, local health authorities said, as ceasefire talks dragged on with no immediate deal expected.

Verified video footage from the strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip showed the bodies of women and children lying in pools of blood amid dust and screaming. One clip showed several motionless children lying on a donkey cart.

"She didn't do anything, she was innocent, I swear. Her dream was for the war to end and that they announce it today, to go back to school," said Samah al-Nouri, sitting by the body of her daughter who was killed in the blast.

"She was only getting treatment in a medical facility. Why did they kill them?" she said, with other bodies laid out around her at a nearby hospital.

Israel's military said it had struck a militant who took part in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review.

US-based Project HOPE said the strike had hit right outside its Altayara health clinic. "Horrified and heartbroken cannot properly communicate how we feel anymore," the aid group said in a statement.

The Deir al-Balah missile strike came as Israeli and Hamas negotiators hold talks with mediators in Qatar over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal aimed at building agreement on a lasting truce.

A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that an agreement was not likely to be secured for another one or two weeks, however, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he was hopeful of a deal.

"I think we're closer, and I think perhaps we're closer than we've been in quite a while," Rubio told reporters at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia.

Several rounds of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have failed to produce a breakthrough since the Israeli military resumed its campaign in March following a previous ceasefire.

Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have killed hundreds of Gazans, many of them civilians, and injured thousands, according to local health authorities, putting an enormous strain on the enclave's few remaining hospitals.

Dwindling fuel supplies risk further disruption in the semi-functioning hospitals, including to incubators at the neonatal unit of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, doctors there said.

"We are forced to place four, five or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator," said Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia, the hospital director, adding that premature babies were now in a critical condition.

An Israeli military official said that fuel destined for hospitals and other humanitarian facilities was let into the enclave on Wednesday and on Thursday.

However, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that far more fuel was needed to keep essential life-saving and life-sustaining services operating.

TALKS

US President Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to discuss the situation in Gaza amid reports that Israel and Hamas were nearing agreement on a US-brokered ceasefire proposal after 21 months of war.

Netanyahu said that if the two sides reach agreements on the US 60-day truce plan, Israel will begin negotiations on a permanent ceasefire.

In a statement from Washington, he reiterated Israel's terms for ending the war, including Hamas disarming and no longer ruling Gaza. Hamas has rejected calls to lay down its weapons.

"If this can be achieved through negotiations - that's good. If it's not achieved through 60-day negotiations then we will achieve it by other means, by use of force," Netanyahu said.

A Palestinian official said the talks in Qatar were in crisis and that issues under dispute, including whether Israel would continue to occupy parts of Gaza after a ceasefire, had yet to be resolved.

The two sides previously agreed a ceasefire in January, but it did not lead to a deal on ending the war and Israel resumed its military assault two months later, stopping all aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks and telling civilians to leave the north of the tiny territory.

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has now killed more than 57,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. It has destroyed swathes of the territory and driven most Gazans from their homes.

The Hamas attack on Israeli border communities that triggered the war in 2023 killed around 1,200 people and the group seized 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. At least 20 are believed to still be alive.

There has also been repeated violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. An Israeli man was killed at a shopping center in the territory on Thursday by two Palestinian gunmen, who were then shot dead, police said.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian man was shot dead after he stabbed and injured a soldier, the army said.