Libyan ‘Al-Fateh’ Revolution’s Shy Celebrations Drowned in Tripoli Mass Violence

Smoke rises during heavy clashes between rival factions in Libya's Tripoli, 28 August 2018, Reuters
Smoke rises during heavy clashes between rival factions in Libya's Tripoli, 28 August 2018, Reuters
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Libyan ‘Al-Fateh’ Revolution’s Shy Celebrations Drowned in Tripoli Mass Violence

Smoke rises during heavy clashes between rival factions in Libya's Tripoli, 28 August 2018, Reuters
Smoke rises during heavy clashes between rival factions in Libya's Tripoli, 28 August 2018, Reuters

Shy celebrations commemorating the September 1 Revolution spread over several Libyan cities with events being held in southwestern Sabha, Tripoli suburbs, Sirte, and at what is dubbed the ‘cradle of revolution,’ Benghazi.

Parallel to celebration, a joint statement issued by the US, UK, France and Italy calling for an immediate end to deadly violence in Tripoli did not lead to a ceasefire, neither did mediating-efforts spent by top tribesmen help end the six-day outbreak of clashes at the capital.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, in his last speech near Bab El Azizia in 2011, promised a fiery chaos that today is seen evident in Tripoli being the playground of mounting violence as the notion of an unregulated and massively armed public becomes a reality.

At least 39 people, including civilians, have died in rival militia clashes in Tripoli in recent days.

A UN-backed government is nominally in power in the capital, but militias occupy much of the rest of the country.

The 1969 Libyan coup d'état, also known as the al-Fateh Revolution or the 1 September Revolution, was a military insurgency carried out by the Free Officers Movement, a group of military officers led by Gaddafi, which led to the overthrow of King Idris I.

Marchers in rallies on Saturday carried portraits of Gaddafi’s son and successor in line, Saif al-Islam, despite his whereabouts remaining unknown.

All and above the fact of all symbols belonging to Gaddafi's time in rule being wiped out, and his relatives living in exile, some reminiscent Libyans waved the colonel’s signature green flag.

It was not surprising after seven years of frustration and bitter war that the 49th anniversary of the Gaddafi-led revolution was celebrated with some nostalgia. Libyans today grieve for the fleeting sense of stability they enjoyed prior to Gaddafi’s overthrow.

Ever since 2011--the year during which Gadhafi’s regime was toppled--the country has spiraled down into sporadic divisions, conflicts and battle for influence between armed forces.

Fired arms rocked Tripoli’s hopes and nostalgia as indiscriminate missile firings rained over military and civilian targets. The city’s airport was targeted with the bombardment, disrupting flights.

The clashes in Tripoli which erupted earlier this week have endangered the lives of local residents and an estimated 8,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, Doctors Without Borders, known by the French acronym MSF, said in a statement.

Conflicted feelings filled Tripoli’s air, with some supporting the February 17 revolt that put an end to Gadhafi’s power –seen as the root cause of all national distress- and others denouncing the revolution for all the bloodshed mayhem it brought about.



UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
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UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)

More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad on Dec. 8, including 800,000 people displaced inside the country and 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.

“Since the fall of the regime in Syria, we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.

“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.

Last January, the UN's high commissioner for refugees urged the international community to back Syria's reconstruction efforts to facilitate the return of millions of refugees.

“Lift the sanctions, open up space for reconstruction. If we don't do it now at the beginning of the transition, we waste a lot of time,” Grandi told a press conference in Ankara, after returning from a trip in Lebanon and Syria.

At a meeting in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Türkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”

The meeting's final statement also pledged support for Syria's new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”

Meanwhile, AFP reported on Tuesday that displaced people are returning to their neighborhoods in Homs, where rebels first took up arms to fight Assad's crackdown on protests in 2011, only to find them in ruins.

In Homs, the Syrian military had besieged and bombarded opposition areas such as Baba Amr, where US journalist Marie Colvin was killed in a bombing in 2012.

“The house is burned down, there are no windows, no electricity,” said Duaa Turki at her dilapidated home in Khaldiyeh neighborhood.

“We removed the rubble, laid a carpet” and moved in, said the 30-year-old mother of four.

“Despite the destruction, we're happy to be back. This is our neighborhood and our land.”

Duaa’s husband spends his days looking for a job, she said, while they hope humanitarian workers begin distributing aid to help the family survive.