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Warring Parties Willing to Turn Libya Truce into Lasting Ceasefire, Says UN Envoy

UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame holds a news briefing ahead of UN-brokered military talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 4, 2020. (Reuters)
UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame holds a news briefing ahead of UN-brokered military talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 4, 2020. (Reuters)
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Warring Parties Willing to Turn Libya Truce into Lasting Ceasefire, Says UN Envoy

UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame holds a news briefing ahead of UN-brokered military talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 4, 2020. (Reuters)
UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame holds a news briefing ahead of UN-brokered military talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 4, 2020. (Reuters)

UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame said on Tuesday there was a “genuine will to start negotiating” between rival military factions as they began talks in Geneva aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire.

The talks in Geneva bring together five military officers from Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) and five from forces aligned with the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli.

The UN-brokered talks are aimed at trust building and working out a monitoring mechanism for a ceasefire.

Salame said the two sides were aiming “to bridge the gaps in their views on how the lasting, sustainable ceasefire can be organized on the ground”.

“We started yesterday to discuss with them a long list of points on our agenda, starting on an attempt to transform the truce into a more solid one, less often violated by either side and also to transform that truce into a real agreement on a lasting ceasefire,” he said, according to Reuters.

One of the participants said that officials discussed on the sidelines of the talks efforts to bolster the ceasefire and uniting the Libyan military, a source told Asharq Al-Awsat. They also expressed rejection of the deployment of any foreign troops in Libya.

A source close to the talks told Asharq Al-Awsat that the LNA delegation demanded an end to Turkey’s military and security deployment in Tripoli. It also called on Ankara to pull out its mercenaries that it had sent to fight for the GNA.

Former Defense Minister Mohammed al-Bargathi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Geneva talks were being held behind closed doors because the GNA delegation wants to avoid coming under pressure from militia leaders in Tripoli that want to see the talks fail.

“Personally, I don’t want an agreement to be reached before the militias are reined in and disarmed,” he added.

The military talks come two weeks after an international summit in Berlin that was focused on charting a path towards a political solution and enforcing a UN arms embargo that has been routinely violated.

There was an escalation in fighting late last year, and a truce brokered by Russia and Turkey from Jan. 12 has been repeatedly violated.

The United Nations says weapons and fighters have continued to enter Libya since the Berlin meeting.

The optimism in Geneva was quashed by developments on the ground where the LNA launched air raids against pro-GNA militias in the Abugrein town near Misrata.

LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said the army was committed to the ceasefire in western Libya and that it was ready to retaliate to any violation at any moment.

He accused Turkey of sending some 6,000 mercenaries from Syria to Libya. Ankara was seeking to send a total of 18,000 mercenaries, he revealed.

Ten Syrian units are currently deployed in Tripoli, he added. They include Syrian, Iraqi, Libyan, African and foreign mercenaries, as well as Turkish officers.

The GNA paid a million dollars to each unit commander, Mismari said.

Moreover, he accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of supporting terrorism in Libya through setting up terrorist groups and security companies. One company has been transformed into a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood group aimed at carrying out terrorist attacks in Libya.

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Arab World

Aoun Says Future Deal Will Not Cede Lebanese Territory, Country No Longer ‘Arena for Anyone’s Wars’

A photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency on April 17, 2026, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivering a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of the capital Beirut. (Lebanese Presidency)
A photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency on April 17, 2026, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivering a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of the capital Beirut. (Lebanese Presidency)
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Aoun Says Future Deal Will Not Cede Lebanese Territory, Country No Longer ‘Arena for Anyone’s Wars’

A photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency on April 17, 2026, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivering a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of the capital Beirut. (Lebanese Presidency)
A photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency on April 17, 2026, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivering a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of the capital Beirut. (Lebanese Presidency)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that any future deal reached by the government would not cede any ‌territory or ‌undermine Lebanon's national ‌rights, ⁠without saying whether ⁠he was referring to prospective talks with Israel.

The televised address was ⁠his first speech ‌since ‌the US brokered a ‌ceasefire to ‌end fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah on Thursday. ‌

The text of the deal ⁠says ⁠Israel and Lebanon would hold direct talks to produce a "peace between the two countries".

Aoun said Lebanon was on the verge of a "new phase" of "permanent agreements."

"Now, we all stand before a new phase," he added, stressing "it is the phase of transition from working on a ceasefire to working on permanent agreements that preserve the rights of our people, the unity of our land, and the sovereignty of our nation."

He added that direct talks with Israel were "not a sign of weakness nor a concession... negotiations do not mean, and will never mean, giving up any right, conceding any principle, or compromising the sovereignty of this nation."

Moreover, Aoun stressed that Lebanon was no longer an "arena" for anyone's wars.

"We are confident that we will save Lebanon... we have reclaimed Lebanon and Lebanon's decision-making power for the first time in nearly half a century," he declared, adding that "today, we negotiate for ourselves... we are no longer a pawn in anyone's game, nor an arena for anyone's wars, and we never will be again."

"I hereby affirm... that there will be no agreement that infringes upon our national rights, diminishes the dignity of our steadfast people, or relinquishes an iota of this nation's soil."

Arab World

Hezbollah Tallies Its Dead from Israel War, Estimates Exceed 1,000

A woman walks next to an ambulance at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman walks next to an ambulance at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Hezbollah Tallies Its Dead from Israel War, Estimates Exceed 1,000

A woman walks next to an ambulance at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman walks next to an ambulance at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Hezbollah said its fighters would “keep their fingers on the trigger” hours after a ceasefire took effect between Lebanon and Israel, warning it would not stay silent over any Israeli violations and would not repeat its past restraint under the October 2024 ceasefire, when Israel continued attacks and assassinations against its members and commanders.

In recent hours, the Iran-backed party focused on helping large numbers of displaced people return to their homes, while tracking Israeli movements in occupied areas and preparing for a possible new confrontation at any moment.

Death toll unclear

People closely following Hezbollah said it was still counting its dead, with no final toll yet, as many fighters remain under rubble in villages and towns that saw fierce clashes, including the southern towns of Khiam and Bint Jbeil, where Israeli forces are deployed, complicating search efforts.

Some bodies are difficult to identify, while others have been taken captive.

Sources said Hezbollah would not, for now or in the near future, announce casualty figures, as it did in the previous war.

It stopped issuing official death notices after the toll passed 500 and is maintaining that approach, they said, with estimates suggesting the number is high and may exceed 1,000, particularly after heavy fighting in Khiam and Bint Jbeil.

Hezbollah statement

In a statement after the ceasefire, Hezbollah said it carried out 2,184 military operations during the 45-day battle from March 2 to April 16.

It said its drones and rocket fire struck Israeli settlements and cities from the Lebanese border to beyond Tel Aviv, up to 160 km deep.

It said its fighters conducted about 49 operations a day, adding: “The hands of these fighters will remain on the trigger, on guard against the enemy’s treachery and any violation of its commitments.”

Hezbollah lawmakers on Friday accompanied displaced residents returning to their towns and villages in the south, Bekaa Valley, and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group would accept no surrender or submission.

“This issue is settled for us. If the Americans want to give the Israeli enemy freedom of movement, and if some Lebanese officials submit and make concessions, that will have no application on the ground,” he said, warning that the ceasefire “must not become a tool for the enemy to blackmail the authorities.”

He added: “The Lebanese authorities must withdraw from direct negotiations that will only lead to submission to Israeli dictates. This threatens Lebanon’s future and fate.”

People check destruction behind posters of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem (bottom) and a killed Hezbollah member in Beirut's southern suburbs after a 10-day ceasefire with Israel came into effect on April 17, 2026. (AFP)

‘A major defeat’

While Hezbollah and its supporters frame the outcome as a victory, security and defense analyst Riad Kahwaji told Asharq al Awsat the battlefield suggests otherwise.

“When the war began, the Israelis were in five points, while Hezbollah fighters were active along axes such as Naqoura, Kfar Kila, and Aita al-Shaab. Today, Israeli forces are deeper inside Lebanese territory,” he said.

“Israeli control has reached 10 km, compared with around 2 or 3 km before. Hezbollah lost territory, was forced to retreat, its death toll is in the hundreds, its number of captives has risen, and the scale of destruction in the south, the southern suburbs and the Bekaa is many times greater,” Kahwaji added.

He said tens of thousands have been displaced after their homes were destroyed. “This is defeat, in every sense of the word.”

Kahwaji said that even if Israeli soldiers were killed, their numbers were not comparable to Hezbollah’s losses, and that the scale of damage in Lebanon versus Israel underscored the imbalance.

“Hezbollah considers its survival and ability to fire rockets a victory, even though it has again shown it acts as an Iranian tool and entered the war in support of Iran,” he stressed.

Ready for another round

Political writer Qassem Kassir, who is closely familiar with Hezbollah’s position, offered a sharply different view, saying the group had emerged stronger than after the 2024 war.

“If we do not say it won, what is certain is that Israel failed to achieve its military and security goals. Tel Aviv was unable to target Hezbollah’s leadership. Although some commanders were killed, the number is very small compared with the previous war,” he said.

Kassir said Hezbollah had “managed the battle with precision and success” and was preparing for a possible new confrontation, unless comprehensive solutions are reached, including a full Israeli withdrawal, the return of captives, an end to attacks and launch of reconstruction.

Arab World

Secret Israeli Ministerial Talks under US Pressure Discuss Vision of ‘New Gaza’

A satellite image of Gaza port. (Reuters file)
A satellite image of Gaza port. (Reuters file)
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Secret Israeli Ministerial Talks under US Pressure Discuss Vision of ‘New Gaza’

A satellite image of Gaza port. (Reuters file)
A satellite image of Gaza port. (Reuters file)

Israeli media sources said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered two secret meetings of senior officials across several ministries, under US pressure, to discuss the future of Gaza, including a possible commercial port and reconstruction plans.

Observers linked the meetings to a military escalation in which Israeli forces struck multiple areas on the margins of operations in Lebanon, in what they said was meant to divert attention from the talks, opposed by far-right ministers.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Thursday that a meeting this week was chaired by acting director general of the prime minister’s office, Drorit Steinmetz, with participation from the finance ministry, the National Security Council, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, and the energy, transport and environmental protection ministries.

Citing five unnamed sources, the channel said the meeting followed US pressure and requests from American officials at the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat. It said this was the second government meeting on the issue held in complete secrecy.

Talks focused on managing US forces inside Gaza, as well as control of border crossings and the near-term flow of goods.

Ministries were asked to present positions on establishing a civilian port in Gaza. Israel’s vision was also reviewed alongside proposals from the CMCC, involving foreign representatives and aid groups.

These proposals fall under what US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have called a “new Gaza,” including high-rise buildings, industrial zones, desalination plants, a gas platform, and an airport, the report said.

Representatives from the electricity and water authorities and the transport ministry were asked to provide professional assessments.

The report said Israel’s leadership had issued clear guidance that no reconstruction would move forward unless Gaza is fully demilitarized and the Palestinian Hamas group is disarmed. Israel also said it would not fund any reconstruction.

Despite official statements, Channel 12 said Israel appears to be compelled to engage with external initiatives that contradict its stated position.

Netanyahu’s office said policy remains unchanged, no reconstruction before Hamas is disarmed and Gaza fully demilitarized, a condition it has not been met despite commitments to the US administration and mediators.

It added that professional-level discussions are not meant to advance reconstruction, but to assess international proposals and prevent the establishment of a status quo on the ground that could harm Israel’s interests.