Tunisia Sets Up Military Emergency Plan as Sarraj Advances in Western Libya

File photo of Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/Files
File photo of Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/Files
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Tunisia Sets Up Military Emergency Plan as Sarraj Advances in Western Libya

File photo of Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/Files
File photo of Tunisian soldiers standing guard at the border crossing at Ras Jdir Ben Guerdane, in this picture taken December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/Files

Tunisia has upped its military presence along the border with Libya after the Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al-Sarraj announced that it wrested control of western Libya, Tunisian official sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The Tunisian Ministry of Defense announced in an official communiqué on Tuesday that the military formations were following the security situation in the Libyan regions bordering the Tunisian land and maritime borders, “with the highest degree of vigilance.”

The Tunisian Armed Forces “are ready to face any emergency, in close cooperation with the security forces, the National Guard and the Customs,” it added.

Rashad el-Tayeb, head of the government’s National Counter-Terrorism Committee, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the security forces and the national army were closely monitoring developments on the country’s southeastern borders with Libya, adding that they were fully prepared to move efficiently, and “face all scenarios of escape of terrorists or armed persons from the hotbeds of fighting in Libya, to the national territory by land or sea.”

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Rafik Shelli, head of the Tunisian Center for Global Security Studies said that the security forces and the army have reinforced their positions in southern Tunisia and the border areas to ensure the security of the country, and exclude all scenarios of infiltration of armed militias.

Major General Mohamed Al-Moadab, the former Director General of Military Security and the Tunisian Customs, warned against a scenario of a future civil war in Libya, but ruled out the involvement of the country’s politicians in the “intra-Libyan differences.”

Al-Moadab called for more vigilance in facing armed gangs and terrorist groups, who could exploit the world’s preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic to encourage smuggling and threaten the security and economic situation of North African countries.



Israel’s Parliament Backs Symbolic Motion to Annex the West Bank

A general view of a plenary session to vote on a bill for applying Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territory, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
A general view of a plenary session to vote on a bill for applying Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territory, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
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Israel’s Parliament Backs Symbolic Motion to Annex the West Bank

A general view of a plenary session to vote on a bill for applying Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territory, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
A general view of a plenary session to vote on a bill for applying Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territory, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, 23 July 2025. (EPA)

Israeli lawmakers voted 71-13 in favor of the measure, which calls for “applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley,” the biblical terms for the area.

Wednesday’s motion, advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, is declarative and has no direct legal implications, although it could place the issue of annexation on the agenda of future debates in the parliament.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians want all three for a future state. Some 3 million Palestinians and over 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank.

Annexation of the West Bank could make it impossible to create a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, which is seen internationally as the only realistic way to resolve the conflict.

Last year, the Israeli parliament approved a similar symbolic motion declaring opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state.