TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI: Libya’s eastern-based parliament met on Monday to discuss what to do about a presidential election that was postponed last week putting the fate of the interim government and a wider peace process in doubt.
However, the parliament refused to fix a date for another presidential election, leaving question marks over the fate of the poll.
The vote, set for Friday, was meant to be the culmination of United Nations-led efforts to drag Libya out of a decade of conflict since a 2011 revolt. But it was derailed by bitter arguments over divisive candidates and a disputed legal framework.
On Monday the parliamentary committee charged with overseeing the election presented a report saying it would be risky to set a new date at this stage.
That was a direct rebuff to the High National Electoral Commission (HNEC) which had suggested holding the vote on January 24.
The parliamentary committee is part of an assembly based in eastern Libya since 2014, reflecting the country’s deep divisions.
The committee recommended laying out “a new, realistic and applicable roadmap, with defined stages, rather than fixing new dates and repeating the same errors.”
The report, read to members of parliament by committee president Al-Haid Al-Sghayer, also suggested setting up a committee to draft a new constitution to replace the one scrapped by dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 1969.
It also called for a reshuffle of the interim government of Abdulhamid Dbeibah, whose mandate was meant to end with Friday’s elections.
The parliament has yet to debate the proposals.
The electoral commission initially disqualified 25 of the 98 candidates who had registered but was not able to agree on a final list with the judiciary and parliament amid a messy appeals process.
Dbeibah heads a unity administration based in the capital Tripoli, in the country’s west, and which was tasked with leading the North African country to the elections.
The vote, after a year of relative calm, was to have been Libya’s first ever direct presidential ballot.
But months of disputes finally saw the vote postponed just two days before it was to take place, when the committee overseeing the election declared holding it impossible on the scheduled date.
The electoral commission has yet to announce a finalized list of candidates for the presidential poll. Its work was hobbled by court cases against the bids of several divisive figures.
The electoral commission last week proposed a new Jan. 24 election date but parliament may consider a longer delay to tackle some of the problems that prevented Friday’s vote taking place, legislators say.
Shortly before Monday’s session, UN envoy Stephanie Williams urged the parliament “to live up to its national responsibilities” and urgently address recommendations from HNEC “in order to push the electoral process forward.”
In a joint statement on Friday, five western nations had called for a new electoral timeline to be put in place as soon as possible.
The US, France, Britain, Germany and Italy also said the current unity government should stay in place until election results are announced.
(With AFP and Reuters)
Libya parliament debates election chaos, refuses to fix date for delayed polls
https://arab.news/nrwmt
Libya parliament debates election chaos, refuses to fix date for delayed polls
- Vote fell apart after failure among rival factions, political entities and candidates to agree on basic electoral rules
- Electoral commission initially disqualified 25 of the 98 candidates who had registered but was not able to agree on final list
Lebanese army says soldier killed by Israeli fire
- South Lebanon and the capital have seen heavy strikes in recent days
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army said Israeli fire killed a soldier on Wednesday, a day after it said three other personnel died in a strike on their position in south Lebanon.
South Lebanon has seen intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants whose group holds sway in the area.
A soldier “died of his wounds sustained due to the Israel army targeting of an army vehicle” in south Lebanon, a statement on X said, after reporting two personnel wounded in the incident near Qlayaa in south Lebanon.
On Tuesday, the military said three soldiers were killed when “the Israeli enemy targeted an army position in the town of Sarafand,” where the health ministry said eight people were wounded.
AFP images showed destruction at the site in Sarafand on the Mediterranean coast, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the southern border, with a concrete structure destroyed and a vehicle among the debris.
Israel army says hit over 100 ‘terror targets’ in past day
The Israeli military on Wednesday said it struck more than 100 “terror targets” in Lebanon over the past day and had “eliminated” two Hezbollah commanders at the weekend.
The targets included “launchers, weapons storage facilities, command centers, and military structures,” the army said in a statement.
The announcement came as US envoy Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon, seeking to hammer out a truce between Israel and Hezbollah.
The military also said “on Sunday, the (air force) eliminated the commanders of Hezbollah’s anti-tank missile and operations unit in the coastal sector” who were “responsible for terror attacks against Israeli civilians.”
The army added that its troops continued to conduct “limited, localized, targeted raids” in southern Lebanon.
Since September 23, Israel has ramped up its bombing campaign in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops, after almost a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
South Lebanon and the capital have seen heavy strikes in recent days, though the situation was calmer in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, with US envoy Amos Hochstein visiting for truce talks.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli shelling and air strikes in south Lebanon overnight and on Wednesday, saying Israeli troops were seeking to advance further near the town of Khiam.
Hezbollah on Tuesday said it had attacked Israeli troops near the flashpoint border town.
The NNA also said that Israel forces were “attempting to advance from the Kfarshuba hills... to open up a new front under the cover of fire and artillery shells and air strikes.”
“Violent clashes are taking place” between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, it added.
Hezbollah said it carried out several attacks on Israeli troops near the border Wednesday.
Syria war monitor says 4 fighters dead in Israeli attack on Palmyra
- State news agency SANA said an “Israeli attack... targeted residential buildings and the industrial area”
Beirut: A war monitor said Israeli strikes on central Syria’s Palmyra on Wednesday killed four pro-Iran fighters, while Syrian state media reported an unspecified number of wounded in the attack.
“Four non-Syrian fighters from pro-Iran groups were killed and six others including civilians were wounded in a provisional toll of the Israeli strikes” on Palmyra, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The strikes targeted “a warehouse in the industrial area and a restaurant and buildings near the ancient city of Palmyra,” the Britain-based Observatory added.
State news agency SANA said an “Israeli attack... targeted residential buildings and the industrial area” of the city, renowned for its ancient ruins.
State television reported unspecified “wounded due to the Israeli attack that targeted the city of Palmyra.”
Since the civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, mainly targeting the army and Iran-backed armed groups, including Hezbollah.
The Israeli military has intensified its strikes since almost a year of hostilities with Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon escalated into all-out war in late September.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence there.
Erdogan says Turkiye prepared if US withdraws from Syria
ISTANBUL: President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkiye is prepared if the United States decides to withdraw troops from northern Syria, broadcaster CNN Turk and other media cited him as saying on Wednesday.
In an interview with reporters on his way back from the G20 summit in Brazil, Erdogan said Turkiye’s security is paramount and it is holding talks with Russia on the issue of Syria.
40 killed in central Sudan paramilitary attack on village
PORT SUDAN: A medic on Wednesday said 40 people were killed “by gunshot wounds” during a paramilitary attack on the Sudanese village of Wad Oshaib in the central state of Al-Jazira.
Eyewitnesses in the village told AFP the Rapid Support Forces, at war with the army since April 2023, attacked the village on Tuesday evening. “The attack resumed this morning,” one eyewitness said by phone Wednesday, adding that paramilitary fighters were “looting property.”
