TRIPOLI: Libya's UN-recognised government on Thursday rejected a truce unilaterally called the day before by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, saying it "did not trust" its eastern-based rival.
The move follows successes on the ground for forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against Haftar's troops in recent weeks, just over a year since he launched an offensive on the capital.
The GNA said in a statement that it did not trust Haftar, who controls the east and swathes of southern Libya, accusing him of violating previous truces.
"These violations make it so we do not trust truce announcements (from Haftar)," the GNA said.
Any "ceasefire needs to have international safeguards and mechanisms" to monitor its implementation and to document violations, it added.
Haftar's camp had said on Wednesday it would cease hostilities for the duration of Ramadan in response to international calls for a truce.
On April 24, the United Nations, European Union and several countries called for both sides to lay down their arms during the holy month, which began in Libya that day.
The oil-rich North African nation has been gripped by chaos since the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with rival administrations in the east and west vying for power.
"The commander general announces the halting of military operations from his side," Ahmad al-Mesmari, a spokesman for Haftar, had declared on Wednesday from the eastern city of Benghazi.
He warned violations by the GNA would be met with an "immediate and harsh response."
However, fighting did not stop in Tripoli after Mesmari's announcement, with explosions still heard from the centre of the capital, according to an AFP correspondent.
The GNA said in its own statement that it would continue in its "legitimate defence", attacking "any threat where it exists and putting an end to outlaw groups", alluding to forces loyal to Haftar.
Since fighting began in April 2019, several ceasefires between Haftar's forces and the GNA have fallen through, with both sides blaming the other for violations.
Haftar's opponents accuse him of wanting to establish a new military dictatorship in the country.
On Monday he claimed he had "a popular mandate" to govern, declaring a key 2015 political deal to be finished and vowing to press his assault to seize Tripoli.
But the UN, EU, Washington and other countries have reiterated that the 2015 agreement remains the only framework for recognised institutions in Libya.
Haftar claims legitimacy from an eastern-based parliament elected in 2014, but the body has not said whether it supported his move.
He did not offer specifics on how he had received his "mandate" or from which institution.
Nor did he say whether the parliament, which was forced to move its headquarters after violence ripped apart Tripoli six years ago, would be dissolved.
The GNA dismissed Haftar's announcement as a "farce", saying Thursday that he was "not a partner for peace".
"We have before us a bloodthirsty person obsessed with power," it added in its statement.
Haftar's call for a truce comes after several setbacks for his forces in recent weeks, with GNA fighters ousting them from two key coastal cities west of Tripoli.
Backed by Turkey, GNA troops are now encircling Haftar's main rear base at Tarhuna, 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of the capital.
In recent months, foreign military involvement has exacerbated Libya's conflict, with the United Arab Emirates and Russia backing Haftar and Ankara supplying the GNA.
Libya’s unity government says rejects Haftar’s truce offer
https://arab.news/nt75d
Libya’s unity government says rejects Haftar’s truce offer
- Libya's UN-recognised government Thursday rejected a truce unilaterally called the day before by military strongman Khalifa Haftar
- The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) said in a statement that it will continue in its "legitimate defence"
Wildfires kill two in western Turkiye, little-known group claims arson attacks
A group calling itself “Children of Fire” claimed responsibility
ISTANBUL: A wildfire killed a second person in Türkiye’s western Izmir province on Tuesday as blazes raged for a seventh day across several regions, while a little-known group claiming ties to Kurdish militants said it was behind dozens of arson attacks.
The latest casualty was a backhoe operator, Ibrahim Demir, who died while battling the flames in the Odemis district, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Earlier, an 81-year-old bedridden man who was home alone in the same area died when fire reached his house, marking the first death since the fires began.
A group calling itself “Children of Fire” claimed responsibility for “tens of fires across six Turkish cities”, according to a statement shared online.
The group, which is little known, says it is affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Türkiye, the United States and European Union. The PKK, which said in May that it was ending a 40-year insurgency and disbanding, has not commented on the claim.
Firefighters continued to battle flames with helicopters and planes dropping water over mountainous terrain in Izmir, while authorities closed some roads to the Aegean resort town of Cesme, Anadolu said.
Broadcasters showed footage of flames lining the main highway as water tankers arrived.
Türkiye, Greece and other countries in the Mediterranean are in an area scientists dub “a wildfire hotspot” — with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate.
Wildfires across Türkiye’s west have damaged around 200 homes and victims have been provided alternative accommodation, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. Some 50,000 people were temporarily evacuated earlier this week from areas of fires fueled by high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds.
New fires also broke out on Thursday in the southern resort province of Antalya and in forested areas near Istanbul, Türkiye’s largest city, Anadolu said. Authorities have managed to contain several of the blazes.
US imposes fresh sanctions targeting Iran oil trade, Hezbollah
“Treasury will continue to target Tehran’s revenue sources and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime’s access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilizing activities,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
The US has imposed waves of sanctions on Iran’s oil exports over its nuclear program and funding of militant groups across the Middle East.
Reuters reported late last year that a fuel oil smuggling network that generates at least $1 billion a year for Iran and its proxies has
flourished in Iraq since 2022.
Thursday’s sanctions came after the US carried out strikes on June 22 on three Iranian nuclear sites, including its most deeply buried enrichment plant Fordow. The Pentagon said on Wednesday the strikes had degraded Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years, despite a far more cautious initial assessment that had leaked to the public.
The US and Iran are expected to hold talks about its nuclear program next week in Oslo, Axios reported.
The Treasury Department also issued sanctions against several senior officials and one entity associated with the Hezbollah-controlled financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
The officials, the department said, conducted millions of dollars in transactions that ultimately benefited, but obscured, Hezbollah.
One person killed, 4 injured in Israeli airstrike on car in Beirut
- Israeli military spokesperson says the army ‘targeted a terrorist in Lebanon who was involved in arms smuggling and advancing terrorist plots against Israeli citizens and army forces’
- Israeli army forces enter Kfar Kila, the closest Lebanese town to Israel, on Thursday morning and blow up a civilian home
BEIRUT: An Israeli drone attack hit a car on Khaldeh Road in southern Beirut at about 5 p.m. on Thursday. Initial reports suggested one person was killed and at least four injured.
The drone fired two guided missiles at the vehicle, scoring direct hits. The road on which it was traveling was described as a typically busy road.
The Israeli army confirmed the attack. In a message posted on social media platform X, military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said: “The Israeli army targeted a terrorist in Lebanon who was involved in arms smuggling and advancing terrorist plots against Israeli citizens and army forces on behalf of the Iranian Quds Force.”
The attack took place three days before US envoy Thomas Barrack is due visit to Beirut to receive Lebanon’s response to US disarmament proposals designed to restrict control of weapons in the country to the Lebanese state, and a day after Hezbollah reiterated its rejection of the demand.
Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Naim Qassem, said on Wednesday that the group “categorically rejects any efforts to disarm. We do not accept being led into humiliation, nor surrendering our land or weapons to the Israeli enemy.”
The matter of weapons is “an internal Lebanese issue that must be addressed internally, without external supervision or interference,” he added.
“The party will not submit to any external threat or pressure. No one decides for us or imposes choices on us that we do not accept. Our weapons are our legitimate and legal right to confront the Israeli occupation.”
On Thursday morning, Israeli army forces entered the southern town of Kfar Kila and blew up a civilian home. Located across the border from the Israeli settlement of Metula, Kfar Kila is the closest Lebanese town to Israel, separated only by a border fence. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese army maintain a permanent presence in the area.
Algeria jails historian who questioned Amazigh culture
- He was arrested on May 3 for “the crime of undermining national unity“
- Belghit’s lawyer Toufik Hichour said on Facebook that a court sentenced him to five years
ALGIERS: An Algerian court on Thursday sentenced historian Mohamed Amine Belghit to five years in prison for offending national symbols, his lawyer said, after remarks questioning the existence of the native Amazigh culture.
Belghit sparked outrage in the North African country when he said in a recent interview that “the Amazigh language is an ideological project of Franco-Zionist origin,” and that “there’s no such thing as Amazigh culture.”
He was arrested on May 3 for “the crime of undermining national unity” by targeting “symbols of the nation and the republic” as well as “disseminating hate speech,” the prosecution said at the time.
On Thursday, Belghit’s lawyer Toufik Hichour said on Facebook that a court outside the capital Algiers sentenced him to five years behind bars.
The prosecutor had requested seven years jailtime and a fine of 700,000 dinars ($5,400).
Algeria in 2016 granted official status to Tamazight, the language of the Amazigh people, who are also known as Berbers.
The Berber new year celebration, Yennayer, was added in 2017 to the list of national holidays.
Belghit, a university professor, is no stranger to controversies.
His remarks often cause uproar, with critics accusing him of historical revisionism and hostility toward the Amazigh people.
Iran committed to Non-Proliferation Treaty, foreign minister says
- Abbas Araqchi made the comment a day after Tehran enacted a law suspending cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog
- Iran has accused the IAEA of siding with Western countries and providing a justification for Israel’s airstrikes
Iran remains committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its safeguards agreement, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday, a day after Tehran enacted a law suspending cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
“Our cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) will be channeled through Iran’s Supreme National Security Council for obvious safety and security reasons,” Araqchi wrote in a post on X.
President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday enacted the legislation passed by parliament last week to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, a move the US called “unacceptable.”
Araqchi’s comment on X was in response to a call from Germany’s Foreign Ministry urging Tehran to reverse its decision to shelve cooperation with the IAEA.
Araqchi accused Germany of “explicit support for Israel’s unlawful attack on Iran, including safeguarded nuclear sites.”
Iran has accused the IAEA of siding with Western countries and providing a justification for Israel’sJune 13-24 airstrikes on Iranian nuclear installations, which began a day after the UN agency’s board of governors voted to declare Tehran in violation of its obligations under the NPT.
Western powers have long suspected that Iran has sought to develop the means to build atomic bombs through its declared civilian atomic energy program. Iran has repeatedly said it is enriching uranium only for peaceful nuclear ends.
IAEA inspectors are mandated to ensure compliance with the NPT by seeking to verify that nuclear programs in treaty countries are not diverted for military purposes.
The law that went into effect on Wednesday mandates that any future inspection of Iranian nuclear sites by the IAEA needs approval by Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council.
“We are aware of these reports. The IAEA is awaiting further official information from Iran,” the Vienna-based global nuclear watchdog said in a statement.
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told a regular briefing on Wednesday that Iran needed to cooperate fully with the IAEA without further delay.
