Tripoli

Libya’s eastern government said that China will take the lead in rebuilding the flood-ravaged city of Derna.

The Libyan Red Crescent on Thursday said the death toll from the flood in Derna, Libya, has reached 11,300 – and may continue to climb, as more than 10,000 people are still missing.

At least 2,000 fatalities have been reported in Libya’s eastern city of Derna after dams burst in a torrential rainstorm.

Two powerful Libyan militia groups called a cease-fire after the arrest of a militia commander sparked a day of deadly violence.

Mohamed Yunus al-Menfi, head of the Presidency Council that administers the internationally-recognized LIbyan government, told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that his country remains fractured a decade after former U.S. President Barack Obama’s invasion, with constant threats of factional violence.

Libya’s High National Electoral Commission (HNEC) dissolved all of the country’s electoral committees on Tuesday, effectively canceling the presidential election that was scheduled for December 24.

Libyan Gen. Khalifa Haftar announced on Tuesday that he is officially a candidate for the presidency of the government he tried to overthrow by force less than two years ago.

Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, who laid siege to the capital city of Tripoli for 14 months until Turkish military intervention pushed his forces back in June 2020, has hired former Bill Clinton senior aide Lanny Davis and former Republican congressman Bob Livingston of Louisiana as lobbyists. Haftar is apparently trying to exert some influence over the next Libyan election, or possibly run for the presidency himself.

Police have arrested a migrant from Tajikistan, wanted for being a member of Islamic State, who had been living in Greece for three years in a house given to him by an NGO.

A delegation of Turkish business leaders is scheduled to visit Libya within the next two weeks to evaluate Turkish business opportunities as the civil war that began with former U.S. President Barack Obama’s invasion of Libya winds down.

The Lebanese pound sank to a record low on the black market on Thursday despite the authorities’ attempts to halt the plunge of the crisis-hit country’s currency, sparking a flare-up in anti-government protests.

Over 1,000 Russian and Syrian mercenary fighters in Libya retreated from Tripoli’s frontlines to a town south of the capital on Sunday following a Turkish-backed military intervention, Bloomberg reported on Sunday. 

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Living in a slum built precariously on the banks of a sewage-tainted river in Lebanon, Faiqqa Homsi feels her family being pushed closer and closer to the edge.

A hospital in Tripoli, Libya, treating coronavirus patients was bombed on Monday, injuring at least six health workers. Libya’s capital has struggled for months with an extended assault by renegade General Khalifa Haftar, struggling to wrestle power away from the U.N.-recognized government.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classified Libya as a “high-risk” country for coronavirus infection on Sunday, while diplomats went even further and warned of a “fatal” outbreak if fighting continues between the internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Libyan National Army (LNA) under Gen. Khalifa Haftar.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that two Turkish soldiers have been killed in Libya, where Turkish forces were deployed to support the Government of National Accord (GNA) against the forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA) under Gen. Khalifa Haftar.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wasted little time sending troops to Libya after his parliament approved military intervention on January 2.

President Donald Trump spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi by telephone on Thursday and agreed to oppose “foreign exploitation” of the situation in Libya, where terrorists, warlords, and rival governments have been fighting ever since the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to send troops to Libya next month at the request of Tripoli’s Government of National Accord (GNA), as they continue to fend off attacks from renegade warlord General Khalifa Haftar’s opposition forces.

Flooding at Beirut’s only Jewish cemetery has swept away entire graves after heavy rainfall hit the Lebanese capital.

Lebanese DJ Madi Karimeh entertained a crowd of thousands of demonstrators in Tripoli on Saturday, as a mass protest against government corruption quickly turned into a music festival when Karimeh pumped dance music over a loudspeaker from a balcony overlooking the crowd.

Men, women and children gathered in the Lebanese capital Beirut Sunday to protest corruption and tax hikes for a fourth day, after the resignation of a key Christian party rocked the country’s fragile coalition government.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the stability and civilian nature of Libya is a critical matter, not only for Libya’s stability but the region and the world,” Falez Mustafa Serraj, president of the internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) of Libya, told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

China delivered the first batch of a total of 130 buses for a non-existent public transportation network in the besieged capital of Libya, local officials announced over the weekend.

The United Nations-brokered Government of National Accord (GNA) over the weekend accused forces loyal to rogue Gen. Khalifa Haftar of airstrikes against a field hospital in southern Tripoli on Saturday, killing five doctors and injuring eight other health workers.

Libya demanded urgent answers Thursday after Paris conceded French missiles were found at a base used by strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose forces are fighting to seize the capital Tripoli.

Paris on Wednesday admitted that U.S.-made missiles found on a base operated by forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Haftar belonged to the French military, but it denied breaching a United Nations arms embargo, claiming that the weapons were “unusable” and never intended to end up with the warlord’s troops, who have been accused of war crimes.

Libyan guards at a detention center in Tripoli’s Tajoura neighborhood this week shot at refugees and migrants trying to flee airstrikes that the internationally recognized government has blamed on forces loyal to renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the United Nations revealed.

The United Nations-brokered administration in Libya accused warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces, fighting on behalf of the breakaway government in the eastern part of the country, of launching an airstrike on Wednesday that struck a migrant detention center in Tripoli, reportedly killing at least 44 people and wounding over 130.

The Turkish government over the weekend demanded that Gen. Khalifa Haftar “immediately” release six Turkish nationals arrested in Libya to avoid a military response.

The United Nations-brokered administration in Libya this week reportedly accused forces loyal to warlord Gen. Khalifa Haftar of using cluster bombs and internationally-banned munitions carrying a phosphorous chemical payload in Tripoli.

The internationally-recognized Libyan government over the weekend accused an armed group loyal to renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar of shutting off water for two days, ending on Tuesday, to areas in and around Tripoli, further tormenting residents already reeling from weeks of fighting.

WASHINGTON, DC — Russia, the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), and other jihadis are expected to benefit from the chaotic conditions in Libya fueled by Moscow-backed renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s ongoing offensive to take the capital of Tripoli from the internationally-recognized government.

Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) – the U.N.-recognized government currently under siege in Tripoli by one of the other major factions vying for control of the shattered country – on Thursday revoked the licenses of about 40 foreign oil and gas firms, including French giant Total.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) reportedly used Chinese-made drones to launch deadly airstrikes on Tripoli on behalf of Libyan renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar, military analysts alleged Thursday.

Allegedly foreign warplanes and drones fighting on behalf of warlord Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) have reportedly intensified their air campaign around the North African country’s capital of Tripoli over the last two days, leaving civilians trapped and unable to escape the besieged region.