Dbeibah: Libya Under Threat of Division, Facing Great Danger

Head of Libya’s GNU Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah in Tripoli, Libya on November 21, 2021. (AFP/Getty Images)
Head of Libya’s GNU Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah in Tripoli, Libya on November 21, 2021. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Dbeibah: Libya Under Threat of Division, Facing Great Danger

Head of Libya’s GNU Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah in Tripoli, Libya on November 21, 2021. (AFP/Getty Images)
Head of Libya’s GNU Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah in Tripoli, Libya on November 21, 2021. (AFP/Getty Images)

Head of Libya’s Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah warned that the country is facing the threat of division and coming up against a “great danger.”

During the opening of a mosque in al-Asbiah city on Friday, he said: “Some parties want to divide the country for the sake of a few crumbs, funds and fortunes.”

“We declare that the country will remain one and united even if it means dying for it,” he added.

Addressing Libya’s enemies, whom he didn’t identify, he stated: “They want to take us back, but I say to them that we will never return to the dark days when we used to fight each other.”

“Those who let us live in darkness in the past ten years want to continue to do so,” he remarked.

Turning to the economy, Dbeibah said the situation was “good” and that Libya was producing a surplus of oil.

Furthermore, he held the central bank responsible for the liquidity crisis, calling on it to “radically” change its policies at banks, which are in turn exploiting the situation in the country.

Dbeibah said he has no authority over them.



Over 50,000 Have Fled Lebanon for Syria Amid Israeli Strikes, Says UN

Syrians, who were living in Lebanon and returned to Syria due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, carry belongings at the Syrian-Lebanese border, in Jdaydet Yabous, Syria, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo
Syrians, who were living in Lebanon and returned to Syria due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, carry belongings at the Syrian-Lebanese border, in Jdaydet Yabous, Syria, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo
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Over 50,000 Have Fled Lebanon for Syria Amid Israeli Strikes, Says UN

Syrians, who were living in Lebanon and returned to Syria due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, carry belongings at the Syrian-Lebanese border, in Jdaydet Yabous, Syria, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo
Syrians, who were living in Lebanon and returned to Syria due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, carry belongings at the Syrian-Lebanese border, in Jdaydet Yabous, Syria, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo

The UN refugee chief said Saturday that more than 50,000 people had fled to Syria amid escalating Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.

"More than 50,000 Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon have now crossed into Syria fleeing Israeli air strikes," Filippo Grandi said on X.

He added that "well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon".

A UNHCR spokesman said the total number of displaced in Lebanon had reached 211,319, including 118,000 just since Israel dramatically ramped up its air strikes on Monday, AFP reported.

The remainder had fled their homes since Hezbollah militants in Lebanon began low-intensity cross-border attacks a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

Israel has shifted the focus of its operation from Gaza to Lebanon, where heavy bombing has killed more than 700 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry, as cross-border exchanges escalated over the past week.

Most of those Lebanese deaths came on Monday, the deadliest day of violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

"Relief operations are underway, including by UNHCR, to help all those in need, in coordination with both governments," Grandi said.