A militia the Associated Press identifies as a coalition of “Islamic militants and former rebels” has seized two major oil ports in Libya and threatened to take the nation’s second-largest city, Benghazi, out of the hands of the secular, internationally-recognized government’s allied military force.
The situation in Libya since dictator Muammar Qaddafi died in 2011 remains fractured and volatile for domestic and foreign interests alike. Following the news that oil smugglers had seized a Turkish tanker on its way to Malta Thursday, Reuters reported that the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), a rebel militia, had captured two of the nation’s few remaining productive oil ports.
Women and children from African countries attempting to make the journey to Europe are being detained in unofficial militia-run detention centers in Libya – where they are subjected to rape, beaten, forced into labor, and starved, in addition to various other atrocities, according to the United Nations.
Europe could be inundated with as many as 20 million African migrants over the coming years, the president of the European Parliament has warned.
A huge surge in the number of illegal migrants attempting dangerous winter sea crossings to Europe has been driven by the increasing brutality of local authorities and people-smugglers in North Africa, according to reports.
Nightmarish conditions in Libya are helping to drive a surge in the numbers of migrants attempting to reach Italy in the depths of winter, humanitarian officials and asylum seekers say.
The head of EU border agency Frontex on Monday criticised charities that rescue migrants off Libya, arguing that they encourage the traffickers who profit from the dangerous Mediterranean crossings. Such rescue operations “should be reevaluated”, Fabrice Leggeri told Germany’s Die
A leaked secret report from the German security authorities has revealed that almost six million migrants from countries around the Mediterranean want to enter Europe. The report, which was obtained by German tabloid Bild, claims that there are at least 5.95
The new United Nations chief, to the ire of the United States, has nominated former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to serve as the global body’s envoy to volatile Libya where the Islamic State continues to cause havoc despite losing its stronghold in the African country.
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday said he “deeply” regretted opposition to former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad as the organisation’s peace envoy to Libya, days after Washington vetoed the appointment.
TEL AVIV – In the wake of the U.S. block on former Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad to be the United Nations envoy to Libya, Israel’s ambassador to the international body Danny Danon praised the start of a “new era” in which the U.S. stands “firmly beside Israel.”
“A review of information compiled by a Senate committee in 2016 reveals that 72 individuals from the seven countries covered in President Trump’s vetting executive order have been convicted in terror cases since the 9/11 attacks,” according to a report issued by the Center for Immigration Studies on Saturday.
TRIPOLI (AFP) – More than 120 migrants including women and children were rescued by Libyan coastguards Sunday off the coast of Tripoli after their boat ran into trouble. The migrants set off Friday from Sabratha — a town 70 kilometres (45 miles)
The President of the European Council has finally recognized that Europe cannot handle the massive influx of migrants crossing from North Africa into Italy and has called for measures to shut down the maritime route across the Strait of Sicily.
Eighty-seven percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are not affected by President Donald Trump’s Friday decision to temporarily withhold visas from citizens of seven Middle Eastern countries.
TEL AVIV — Immigration lawyers from groups financed by billionaire George Soros, a champion of open border policies, were signatories to a lawsuit filed Saturday to block President Donald Trump’s executive order halting visas for 90 days for “immigrants and non-immigrants” from Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Iran, and Iraq.
Contents: Furious Turkey threatens migrant deal over Greece’s failure to extradite; Desperate EU officials still try to shut down Mediterranean migration route
ABOARD THE GOLFO AZZURRO (AP) — Rescuers pulled nearly 300 people from two rubber boats in waters off the Libyan coast on Friday and were looking for 100 more believed to be on a another boat missing since Sunday.
CNN brings us a little reminder of the disaster Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton left in Libya at the dawn of Obama’s last full day in office.
Emboldened by its success in Syria, Russia is turning its eyes to chaos-ridden Libya with support for a military strongman whose forces oppose the internationally backed government.
A British court on Tuesday ruled that a former Libyan militant can sue a former foreign minister and an ex-MI6 officer over his rendition in a landmark case that could pave the way for more lawsuits.
With its open doors immigration policy, Europe can expect “record levels” of new migrants in 2017, according to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU).
Contents: Over 100 migrants drown in Mediterranean after their dinghy sinks; With Libya in chaos, migrant deal with Italy collapses
French President Francois Hollande said that talks to discuss the Middle East peace process in Paris on Sunday do not aim to replace bilateral negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
Berlin police released security camera pictures as part of their hunt for a gang of young migrants who they believe attempted to murder a homeless man in Christmas day by setting him alight. Officers have now arrested seven men between the
The views in this World View article are those of the author, John Xenakis, based on Generational Dynamics analyses of historic and current events, and do not necessarily represent the views of Algora Publishing.
The forces of evil aren’t taking Christmas off, not by a long shot.
The United States military has officially ended Operation Odyssey Lightning, which was launched on August 1 to help Libyan forces push Islamic State (ISIS) militants from their stronghold of Sirte.
Hijackers claiming to have a grenade took over a Libyan plane Friday and diverted it to Malta before releasing everyone onboard and surrendering to authorities, officials said.
Islamic State has lost senior figures in an unsuccessful seven-month battle to defend its coastal stronghold in Libya, but there are already signs it will try to fight back through sleeper cells and desert brigades.
Libyan fighters have announced the near-total eradication of the Islamic State from the coastal city of Sirte, hometown of late dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
The House Homeland Security Committee released its “December Terror Threat Snapshot” report on Tuesday and found the threat of Islamist terrorism worse than at any time since 9/11.
President Obama delivered his last major speech on national security at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida on Tuesday, boasting that “no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack” in the U.S.
This week the number of immigrants entering Italy since January 1 shattered the previous yearly record from 2014, moving beyond the 170,000 mark.
Libyan forces, with the help of U.S. airstrikes, report they have taken the last neighborhood in the coastal city of Sirte from the Islamic State, ending a months-long battle against the militant group.
Swiss authorities said Friday they had seized cultural relics looted from Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, as well as from Libya and Yemen, which were being stored in Geneva’s free ports.
Contents: Mediterranean migrant traffic to Italy and Greece continues, despite cold weather; Europeans wonder if Turkey will reopen the refugee floodgates
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) only controls a “sliver of territory” in its Libyan stronghold, but the terrorist group may be “forming cells” elsewhere in the African country, warns the U.S. special envoy for Libya.
ROME (AFP) – Rescuers saved some 1,400 migrants off the coast of Libya on Monday as Italy announced a record number of people arriving this year after crossing the Mediterranean, authorities said.
According to a new post by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Mediterranean Sea is one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes and is “cluttered with sunk rubber dinghies.”
