Pro-Gaddafi Group Uncovered in Libyan Capital

Late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (AFP)
Late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (AFP)
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Pro-Gaddafi Group Uncovered in Libyan Capital

Late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (AFP)
Late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi. (AFP)

A force loyal to the government of national accord announced that it had thwarted a terrorist plot in the Libyan capital Tripoli plotted by loyalists of the regime of late leader Moammar al-Gaddafi.

A deterrence force in the Interior Ministry of PM Fayez al-Sarraj’s government arrested a cell that was planning military operations with others, which are affiliated with the so-called Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya.

It said that it had received information that an armed group was seeking to create chaos in Tripoli and its suburbs.

The group had set up an operations room south of the capital with the support of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya.

Following investigations and surveillance operations, the members of the group were arrested. They included three senior officers from the Libyan army and four civilians.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya describes itself as a new political organization that includes supporters of the Gaddafi regime. They believe that the February 2011 uprising was a conspiracy against Libya, reported the German news agency.

The Front was established on December 26, 2016 and its founder revealed that it was led by Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Isalm.

The group is aimed at liberating Libya from militias, with the support of pro-Gaddafi tribes.

Seif al-Islam has not commented on these claims.



UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

 Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
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UNRWA Lebanon Says Not Impacted by US Aid Freeze or New Israeli Law

 Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)
Head of UNRWA in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus speaks during a press conference in her offices in Beirut, Lebanon January 29, 2025. (Reuters)

The director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said on Wednesday that the agency had not been affected by US President Donald Trump's halt to US foreign aid funding or by an Israeli ban on its operations.

"UNRWA currently is not receiving any US funding so there is no direct impact of the more recent decisions related to the UN system for UNRWA," Dorothee Klaus told reporters at UNRWA's field office in Lebanon.

US funding to UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025 under a deal reached by US lawmakers and after Israel accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war.

The UN has said it had fired nine UNRWA staff who may have been involved and said it would investigate all accusations made.

Klaus said that UNRWA Lebanon had also placed four staff members on administrative leave as it investigated allegations they had breached the UN principle of neutrality.

One UNRWA teacher had already been suspended last year and a Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September in an Israeli strike - was found to have had an UNRWA job.

Klaus also said there was "no direct impact" on the agency's Lebanon operations from a new Israeli law banning UNRWA operations in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and that "UNRWA will continue fully operating in Lebanon."

The law, adopted in October, bans UNRWA's operation on Israeli land - including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally - and contact with Israeli authorities from Jan. 30.

UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions in the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Its commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday that UNRWA has been the target of a "fierce disinformation campaign" to "portray the agency as a terrorist organization."