Algeria Says Haftar Does Not Oppose its Mediation to End Libya Unrest

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP)
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Algeria Says Haftar Does Not Oppose its Mediation to End Libya Unrest

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP)

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune revealed that “all Libyan parties” do not oppose his country’s mediation to resolve their conflict.

“Algeria does not have expansionist or economic ambitions in Libya,” he told the press on Thursday.

“Its only concern is ending the fighting because, as Algerians, we have endured a similar plight,” he added in reference to the country’s conflict against terrorism in the mid-1990s.

Furthermore, Tebboune said that neither Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar, Government of National Accord (GNA) chief Fayez al-Sarraj, nor Libyan tribes oppose Algiers’ mediation.

This is the first time that the president reveals that Haftar does not oppose a mediation that Algeria has sought for years to achieve in neighboring Libya. It is perceived that Haftar has lukewarm relations with Algerian officials over their support for his rival, Sarraj.

Tebboune received in Algiers on Saturday speaker of the east-based Libyan parliament, Aguila Saleh, who arrived in the capital on an official visit at the president’s invitation.

Tebboune continued: “The military option will not resolve the Libyan conflict. Algeria stands at an equal distance from all parties and is ready to help end the crisis.”

He said Algeria was prepared to help Libyans manage their internal affairs as they build institutions and organize elections.

“All nations, including major powers, support Algeria’s position,” he stressed, while remaining vague on how his country plans on ending the fighting.

The president did, however, say that Algeria has exerted diplomatic efforts to end the unrest, stressing the need to return to dialogue and negotiations.

Major powers acknowledge that Algeria is in a solid position to reach peace in Libya due to the good relations it enjoys with Egypt and Tunisia, he added.



Israel Says Rockets Fired from Syria for the First Time Since Bashar Assad’s Fall 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel Says Rockets Fired from Syria for the First Time Since Bashar Assad’s Fall 

An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle is seen near the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, May 4, 2025. (Reuters)

The Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, marking the first time a strike has been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Syrian state media reported that Israel shelled the western countryside of Syria’s Daraa province after the rocket launch. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, also reported Israeli airstrikes that caused “violent explosions” around the city of Quneitra and in the Daraa countryside.

A group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigades — named after a Hamas military leader killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza last year — claimed the attack in a post on Telegram. The group first surfaced on social media a few days before.

“Until now, it’s just a Telegram channel. It’s not known if it is a real group,” said Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher who has studied armed factions in southern Syria.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Israel considers “the Syrian president directly responsible for every threat and firing toward the State of Israel” and warned of a “full response” to come “as soon as possible.”

Israel has been suspicious of the former opposition fighters who formed the new Syrian government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syria and seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory since Assad’s fall.

Syria’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run TV channel that it has “not yet verified the accuracy” of the reports of strikes launched from Syria toward Israel.

“We affirm that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region,” the statement said. It condemned the Israeli shelling, which it said had resulted in “significant human and material losses.”

The US, which has warmed to al-Sharaa's government and recently moved to lift some sanctions previously imposed on Syria, has pushed for Syria to normalize relations with Israel.

In a recent interview with the Jewish Journal, al-Sharaa said he wants to see a return to a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries but stopped short of proposing immediate normalization, saying that “peace must be earned through mutual respect, not fear.”