Libya Presidency Denies Armed Groups Attacked Hotel Where it Meets

Libyan Foreign Minister, Najla al-Manqoush. (Reuters)
Libyan Foreign Minister, Najla al-Manqoush. (Reuters)
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Libya Presidency Denies Armed Groups Attacked Hotel Where it Meets

Libyan Foreign Minister, Najla al-Manqoush. (Reuters)
Libyan Foreign Minister, Najla al-Manqoush. (Reuters)

A senior official at Libya's new Presidential Council denied on Saturday that groups who entered a hotel where the body meets had been armed or used force, playing down an incident that had appeared to illustrate the risks facing the unity government.

Earlier, the Council's spokeswoman had said armed groups had stormed the Corinthia Hotel on Friday, though she also said nobody from the body had been in the building at the time.

"There was no kidnapping, gunfire, or an attack on me or the hotel," the head of the Presidential Council's office, Mohamed al-Mabrouk said in a social media video, adding that he had been in the hotel at the time of the incident.

Mabrouk said the head of the Presidential Council, which functions as Libya's head of state for now, would meet with the groups involved.

The Presidential Council was chosen through a United Nations-facilitated process that also selected a new Government of National Unity (GNU) that took office in March, replacing rival administrations in east and west.

Armed groups based in western Libya have voiced anger at the GNU Foreign Minister, Najla al-Manqoush.

Challenges
Head of the GNU Abdelhamid Dbeibeh has worked to win support from Libya's many rival factions, forming a large cabinet that includes an array of ideological and regional figures.

However, both the Presidential Council and GNU have faced internal criticism and challenges to their authority.

In eastern Libya, commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) still hold sway nearly a year after their 14-month offensive to seize the capital collapsed.

In Tripoli, the armed groups that pushed Haftar back from the capital with Turkish support still control the streets.

Foreign mercenaries remain entrenched on both sides of the heavily fortified front line, despite international calls for the warring sides to pull them from the country.

Last week, Manqoush repeated the call for all foreign fighters to leave while standing next to visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Turkey says its military presence in Libya is different to that of other foreign forces because it was invited by the previous Government of National Accord (GNA) and it will not withdraw until others do.

Before Friday's incident, an operations room for the Tripoli armed groups said on social media that it had met to discuss "irresponsible statements" by Manqoush and later called on the GNU to formally reject Haftar.



Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)

The Lebanese military said it has detained a group of people linked to firing rockets into Israel last month.

In a statement issued late Wednesday night, the army said it had detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time it was behind the firing of rockets, The Associated Press reported.

The army said that a vehicle and other equipment used in the rockets attacks were confiscated and the detainees were referred to judicial authorities. The army said it had carried out raids in different parts of Lebanon to detain the suspects without giving further details.

On Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported that Gen. Rodolph Haikal briefed a weekly cabinet meeting about the security situation along the border and the ongoing implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Three security and one judicial official told The Associated Press that four Palestinians linked to the Hamas group are being questioned.

A Hamas official told the AP that several members of the group were detained in Lebanon recently and released shortly afterward adding that they were not involved in firing rockets into Israel. He said in one case authorities detained a Hamas member who was carrying an unlicensed pistol.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah started launching attacks on Israel a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with the Palestinian militants’ attack on southern Israel. The war that left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused wide destruction ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire went into effect in late November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

On Tuesday, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said that at least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect.