UNITED NATIONS: The top UN official in Libya warned Tuesday that the political, military and security situation in the oil-rich north African country has deteriorated “quite rapidly” over the past two months – and without renewed political talks leading to a unified government and elections there will be greater instability.
Stephanie Khoury painted a grim picture to the UN Security Council of rival government forces unilaterally moving toward each other in July and August, sparking mobilizations and threats to respond, and unilateral attempts to unseat the Central Bank governor and the prime minister in the country’s west.
Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. In the chaos that followed, the country split, with rival administrations in the east and west backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
The country’s current political crisis stems from the failure to hold elections on Dec. 24, 2021, and the refusal of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah — who led a transitional government in the capital of Tripoli in the west — to step down. In response, Libya’s east-based parliament appointed a rival prime minister who was replaced, while the powerful military commander Khalifa Haftar continues to hold sway in the east.
Khoury warned the council that “Unilateral acts by Libyan political, military and security actors have increased tension, further entrenched institutional and political divisions, and complicated efforts for a negotiated political solution.”
On the economic front, she said, attempts to change the Central Bank governor are fueled by the perception of political and security leaders, and ordinary Libyans, that the bank “is facilitating spending in the east but not in the west,”
Khoury also pointed to the unilateral decision by the Libyan National Army, which is under Haftar’s control, to close the Sharara oil field, the country’s biggest, “causing the Libya National Oil Corp. to declare force majeure on Aug. 7.” Force majeure frees companies from contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances.
The National Oil Corp. accused the Fezzan Movement, a local protest group, of responsibility for the shutdown. But several Libyan papers reported that it was a result of Haftar’s retaliation against a Spanish company that is part of the joint venture operating Sharara for an arrest warrant issued by Spanish authorities accusing him of arms smuggling.
In one of the latest political acts, some members of the east-based House of Representatives met in Benghazi on Aug. 13 and voted to end the mandate of the Government of National Unity and Presidency Council in the west. The House members also voted to transfer the role of Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces to the speaker of the House of Representatives, and endorsed its designated government in the east “as the only legitimate executive” – moves immediately rejected by leaders in the west.
Khoury told council members “the status quo is not sustainable.”
“In the absence of renewed political talks leading to a unified government and elections you see where this is heading — greater financial and security instability, entrenched political and territorial divisions, and greater domestic and regional instability,” she warned.
Libya’s instability has ‘quite rapidly’ deteriorated and will worsen if no elections, says UN envoy
https://arab.news/nhtjg
Libya’s instability has ‘quite rapidly’ deteriorated and will worsen if no elections, says UN envoy
- The country’s current political crisis stems from the failure to hold elections on Dec. 24, 2021
At least quarter of Gaza wounded have ‘life-changing injuries’: WHO
- Life-altering injuries including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and major burn injuries
At least 22,500 of the people injured in Gaza in the 11 months since the war erupted will “requires rehabilitation services now and for years to come,” the WHO said in a statement.
“The huge surge in rehabilitation needs occurs in parallel with the ongoing decimation of the health system,” Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for the Palestinian territories, said in a statement.
According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 41,118 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, while over 95,000 have been wounded.
The Hamas attack inside Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which also includes hostages killed in captivity.
Pointing to a fresh analysis of the types of injuries resulting from the conflict, the UN health agency said “many thousands of women and children” figured among those badly injured and that many had suffered more than one injury.
It estimated there had overall been between 13,455 and 17,550 “severe limb injuries,” which it said were the main driver of the need for rehabilitation.
The report showed that between 3,105 and 4,050 limb amputations had occurred.
Other life-altering injuries including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and major burn injuries, it said.
At the same time, WHO said only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are currently even partially functional, while primary health care services are frequently suspended or inaccessible due to insecurity, attacks and repeated evacuation orders.
Gaza’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation center, located in Nasser Medical Complex and supported by WHO ceased functioning last December due to lack of supplies and specialized health workers.
“Tragically, much of the rehabilitation workforce in Gaza is now displaced,” the statement said.
Peeperkorn said that “patients can’t get the care they need.”
“Acute rehabilitation services are severely disrupted and specialized care for complex injuries is not available, placing patients’ lives at risk,” he said.
“Immediate and long-term support is urgently needed to address the enormous rehabilitation needs.”
Gazan child amputee dreams big after evacuation to Qatar
- Qatar has taken in some injured Gazans for treatment as it tries to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
DOHA: Evacuated to Qatar from the chaos of Gaza, nine-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud Youssef Ajjour still dreams of becoming a pilot one day despite losing his arms in an Israeli rocket attack.
In a small apartment in Doha, capital of the wealthy Gulf Arab state, Ajjour’s mother slowly eases him into his uniform to help him get ready for school. It will take some time to fit him with artificial limbs.
The rocket hit as he was walking away from his Gaza home in December with his father and mother, he said.
“I was lying on the ground, I didn’t know what hit me, I didn’t know that I lost my arms” said Ajjour.
He was operated on in Gaza with limited anaesthetic, waking up from the operation in great pain and with his arms gone, his mother said.
Yet he is one of the lucky ones, escaping the shattered territory, where many hospitals have been destroyed and doctors say they often have to perform surgery without any anaesthetic and pain killers.
Qatar has taken in some injured Gazans for treatment as it tries to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas along with the United States and Egypt that would see the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and some Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. There is still no sign of agreement.
Ajjour longs for Gaza, which was vibrant before the conflict despite widespread poverty and high unemployment in what was one of the world’s most densely populated places.
His home was destroyed in the Israeli offensive triggered by an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas-led militants who killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
The offensive has killed at least 41,118 Palestinians and wounded 95,125, according to the Gaza health ministry. Nearly two million people have been displaced and the territory has become a wasteland. Israel says it does not target civilians, accusing Hamas militants of hiding among them, allegations the militants deny.
“I want Gaza to be beautiful again,” Ajjour says.
At the long-established Palestinian School in Doha, he sits patiently while his classmates write things down and raises his voice alongside them as they answer a teacher’s questions.
The school psychologist, Hanin Al Salamat, sees in him a source of inspiration. “He gives us strength,” she says.
He refuses to let physical limitations define him.
“I will keep trying everything,” he says with conviction. “I will become a pilot, and I will play soccer with my friends.”
Turkiye probing killing of activist in occupied West Bank
- Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead last week while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the West Bank
- The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting the US-Turkish activist in the head
ANKARA: Turkiye is investigating the killing of a US-Turkish activist during a protest in West Bank, the justice minister said Thursday, adding that Ankara would press the UN to take immediate action.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot dead last week while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank town of Beita.
The settlements are illegal under international law but supported by right-wing members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Eygi in the head. The Israeli army has acknowledged opening fire in the area and said it was looking into the case.
“Turkiye has opened an investigation,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said.
He also said Turkiye would take the case to the United Nations and push for an independent inquiry into her death.
“We will work to ensure that the (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial and Arbitrary Executions takes immediate action, and that an independent commission of inquiry is established and prepare a report,” he said.
Tunc said Turkiye would forward that report to the UN Human Rights Council and to the ongoing case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“We will continue to defend the right of our sister Aysenur and our Palestinian brothers,” he added.
Turkiye’s foreign ministry said the formal procedures for the transfer of the body had been concluded through its embassy in Tel Aviv and consulate in Jerusalem.
“The body of the deceased will arrive in Turkiye tomorrow,” it said, adding: “We once again condemn this murder committed by the genocidal Netanyahu government.”
Eygi’s family is still waiting for her body to arrive and is hoping to bury her in the southwestern town of Didim on Friday.
“It’s sad but it’s also a source of pride for Didim,” Eygi’s uncle Ali Tikkim, 67, said on Wednesday.
“It’s important that a young girl, martyred and sensitive to the world is buried here.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished.”
Iran president arrives in Iraqi Kurdistan on day two of visit
- It is Pezeshkian’s first foreign trip abroad since he took office in July
- Tehran in 2022 repeatedly carried out strikes on armed groups in Kurdistan
Irbil: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived Thursday in Iraqi Kurdistan to meet the autonomous region’s leaders, on the second day of a visit aimed at deepening ties with the neighboring country.
It is Pezeshkian’s first foreign trip abroad since he took office in July.
Stepping off his plane in Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Pezeshkian was welcomed by regional president Nechirvan Barzani on a red carpet lined with Kurdish Peshmerga forces standing at attention with rifles at their sides.
Pezeshkian held talks with Barzani and Kurdistan’s prime minister, Masrour Barzani, before heading to Sulaimaniyah, a city where the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) political party wields influence including in the local security services.
On Wednesday, the first leg of his three-day visit, Pezeshkian announced in Baghdad the signing of more than a dozen agreements to strengthen ties between Iran and Iraq.
His trip comes at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the war in Gaza, which has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups and complicated Iraq’s relations with the United States.
Iran’s ties with Iraqi Kurdistan have improved in recent months, aided by efforts to neutralize Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, which have long operated in the region.
Tehran in 2022 repeatedly carried out strikes on armed groups in Kurdistan, before Iraq in March 2023 signed a security agreement with Iran. Baghdad committed to disarm these groups and relocate them from border areas to camps.
“We have succeeded... in regulating the security situation in the border areas,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani said on Wednesday, reiterating Iraq’s refusal to allow any acts of aggression to be launched against Iran from its territory.
Iran had accused the Iranian Kurdish opposition of smuggling weapons from Iraq and launching attacks on its security forces.
It also accused these movements of fueling protests that shook Iran after the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd arrested by the morality police.
War monitor says Israeli strike in Syria’s Golan kills two
- The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the reported strike
Beirut: A Syria war monitor said an Israeli airstrike on Thursday in Quneitra province in the Syria-controlled Golan Heights killed two people, days after major raids elsewhere in the country.
“An Israeli air strike targeted a vehicle” on the Damascus-Quneitra road, “killing two people,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, without identifying them.
A local security source told AFP that “two charred bodies were removed” from the vehicle that was hit.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the reported strike.
Israel seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed it in a move largely unrecognized by the international community.
Thursday’s strike came days after raids blamed on Israel killed 18 people in the central province of Hama, according to Syrian authorities.
The Observatory said those strikes killed 27 people, including six civilians, and targeted a “scientific research area” and other sites in the province’s Masyaf area.
Israel declined to comment on those reported strikes.
Hezbollah has repeatedly targeted military positions in the Israeli-held Golan in recent months as part of attacks from Lebanon in support of ally Hamas following the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
Syria has sought to stay out of the Israel-Hamas conflict, whose fallout has raised fears of a broader regional war.
Limited rocket attacks from Syria by Hezbollah-allied fighters have targeted the Israeli-held Golan since October.
Since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including from Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
Israeli raids on Syria surged after Hamas’s October 7 attack then eased somewhat after an April 1 strike blamed on Israel hit the Iranian consular building in Damascus, prompting Iran’s first-ever direct attack against Israel.
