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Libya Condemns 45 ‘Gaddafi Followers’ to Death

Late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi (AFP/file photo)
Late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi (AFP/file photo)
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Libya Condemns 45 ‘Gaddafi Followers’ to Death

Late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi (AFP/file photo)
Late Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi (AFP/file photo)

A Libyan court on Wednesday sentenced to death by firing squad 45 militiamen out of 128 condemned for killing demonstrators in Tripoli during the 2011 uprising against former president Muammar Gaddafi, the justice ministry said.

The incident was known as Abu Salim district, which occurred in Tripoli on August 21, 2011, on the backdrop of the Libyan revolution that ousted the regime of Gaddafi. This case caused a hustle and bustle in the Libyan public opinion throughout the past seven years. The ministry said in a statement that 54 other defendants were sentenced to five years in jail and 22 were acquitted.

The issued verdicts coincided with dozens of women blocking the road with burning tires as a protest against the lack of liquidity at local banks in addition to the deterioration of living conditions. Furious protesters repeated slogans against the governor of the Libyan central bank, the national accord government, the parliaments and the high council of state. These protests resulted from the fact that dozens of citizens, women among them, stood for long in front of local banks in hope of withdrawing money.

Meanwhile, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) accused the armed militias in Tripoli for using force to impede tank trucks and threatening a director of a local oil firm. General Directorate of Central Security (north Tripoli branch), started opening Al-Shat Road in Tripoli only one day after the armed militias blocking off the road and preventing the vehicles from entering the east of the city in a protest against abducting a number of Souq al Jum'aa region residents by battalion of Bashir Khalafallah.

NOC, supporting the Government of National Accord headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, said in a statement Wednesday that armed men localized in Aziziyah used force on Tuesday to hinder the passage of tanker trucks. The corporation denounced earlier the fact that Director of Brega Oil Marketing Company Emad Bin Koura was threatened by armed militias in Tripoli in order to reconsider a decision he issued to dissolve the "Distribution of Fuel and Gas Follow-up Office".

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Arab World

Israel Military Issues Evacuation Warning for Area of South Lebanon

Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Military Issues Evacuation Warning for Area of South Lebanon

Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following an explosion in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel's military on Tuesday warned residents of more than a dozen villages and towns in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate and head northwards, saying it would respond to Hezbollah's "violation of the ceasefire" there.

The military "does not intend to harm you, and out of concern for your safety, you are required to evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the specified area towards the Sidon District", Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

"Anyone present near Hezbollah elements, their facilities or their weapons is endangering their life," he added.

All the areas listed in the post appear to be outside or on the border of the so-called "Yellow Line" -- a strip of Lebanese territory around 10 kilometers (six miles) deep along the border within which Israeli troops are operating.

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have traded blame over violations of the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon agreed earlier this month, and attacks by both sides have continued.

In two incidents on Tuesday morning, the Israeli military said an interceptor was launched "toward a suspicious aerial target that was identified in an area where Israeli forces are operating in southern Lebanon".

On both occasions, it said the target did not cross into Israeli territory.

The military also announced on Tuesday morning that one soldier had been severely injured and another lightly injured a day earlier "as a result of an explosive drone impact during operational activity in southern Lebanon".

"This incident constitutes a violation of the ceasefire understandings by the Hezbollah terrorist organization," it said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Hezbollah's rockets and drones remained a key threat requiring action by the Israeli military, adding that Israel was continuing to carry out strikes.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by firing rockets towards Israel to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Arab World

Dozens of Gaza Children Arrive in Jordan for Medical Care

A wounded Palestinian girl, evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment, arrives in an ambulance at the King Hussein Bridge in Jordan, April 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A wounded Palestinian girl, evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment, arrives in an ambulance at the King Hussein Bridge in Jordan, April 27, 2026. (Reuters)
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Dozens of Gaza Children Arrive in Jordan for Medical Care

A wounded Palestinian girl, evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment, arrives in an ambulance at the King Hussein Bridge in Jordan, April 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A wounded Palestinian girl, evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment, arrives in an ambulance at the King Hussein Bridge in Jordan, April 27, 2026. (Reuters)

A new group of wounded or ill Palestinian children from Gaza have arrived in Jordan to receive medical care, the kingdom's army said on Tuesday.

They are the 26th group of children transported to Jordan since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

The 81 children, accompanied by 108 family members, arrived through the King Hussein, or Allenby, border crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, the army said in a statement.

It is part of the "Jordanian medical corridor" initiative that King Abdullah II agreed to following a meeting with US President Donald Trump in February 2025.

Under the initiative, around 2,000 children will be transported to Jordan to receive medical care.

Since March last year, more than 716 children have been transferred in cooperation with the World Health Organization, the majority of them suffering from fractures, major wounds or cancer.

"The children will be treated in a number of Jordanian hospitals, as part of the kingdom's ongoing medical and humanitarian efforts to provide healthcare and medical support to our brothers and sisters in the Gaza Strip," the army said.

A ceasefire has largely held in Gaza since last October, but some violence has persisted.

Arab World

Iraqi Leaders to Begin Thorny Talks on Forming Cabinet

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with Ali al-Zaidi, the Coordination Framework’s nominee for prime minister, in Baghdad, Iraq, April 28, 2026. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Media Office/Handout via Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with Ali al-Zaidi, the Coordination Framework’s nominee for prime minister, in Baghdad, Iraq, April 28, 2026. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Media Office/Handout via Reuters)
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Iraqi Leaders to Begin Thorny Talks on Forming Cabinet

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with Ali al-Zaidi, the Coordination Framework’s nominee for prime minister, in Baghdad, Iraq, April 28, 2026. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Media Office/Handout via Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with Ali al-Zaidi, the Coordination Framework’s nominee for prime minister, in Baghdad, Iraq, April 28, 2026. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Media Office/Handout via Reuters)

Iraqi leaders are expected to begin complex talks on Tuesday over forming a government and allocating cabinet portfolios under new prime minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi.

Five months on from elections, Iraq remains deadlocked in negotiations over a new administration, after US pressure scuppered the choice for prime minister of the majority bloc in parliament.

Two-time ex-premier Nouri al-Maliki, who has close ties to Iran, had been endorsed by the bloc but was forced to step back after an ultimatum from US President Donald Trump.

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq led by the United States, the country has walked a tightrope between the competing influences of Washington and Tehran.

On Monday, Iraq's new President Nizar Amedi nominated businessman Zaidi as prime minister-designate, giving him the daunting task of putting a cabinet together in the next 30 days amid fierce political wrangling.

The Coordination Framework -- the majority bloc in parliament and an alliance of Shiite groups with varying ties to Iran, had backed Maliki but appears to have yielded to the US pressure.

The framework has now endorsed Zaidi and thanked Maliki, a key member of their alliance, for dropping out.

Iraq's state-run INA news agency quoted a framework official late Monday as saying the alliance would meet on Tuesday with Zaidi to discuss the cabinet.

Zaidi said he is determined to work "with all political forces", INA reported.

Seen as a compromise figure, Zaidi, 40, is little known in political circles, and has never held a government post.

A businessman and owner of a television channel, he once headed one of the many Iraqi banks that are banned from conducting dollar transactions under US anti-money laundering regulations.

If Zaidi succeeds in forming a government, he will replace Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who until recently enjoyed smooth relations with the US.

Sudani's hopes for a second term as prime minister faded after he failed to stop Iran-backed groups from targeting US interests during the Middle East war.

A political source told AFP that the Coordination Framework endorsed Zaidi "after checking" with US representatives.

Victoria J. Taylor, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council think tank, said on X that "the framework would not have nominated him without some sense that the US would accept his nomination".

Trump's "public opposition to Maliki was deeply embarrassing and the framework doesn't want to go down that road again," added Taylor, who is a former US deputy assistant secretary for Iraq.

Zaidi's nomination also emerged 10 days after an Iranian commander visited Iraq and met with political leaders.