NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
- Forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA) have arrested over a thousand migrants in Tobruk and Musaid, in the east of the country, LNA’s press office announced. The roundup took place after additional military and security units were sent to in support of the forces stationed in the Tobruk-Musaid area, near the border with the Egypt.
- The Libyan border guards in charge of securing the Libyan-Tunisian borders have managed to find 14 migrants who were lost in the desert near the Tunisian border, reports the Interior Ministry of the Libyan Government of Unity (GUN). The ministry elaborated that the migrants are of various sub-Saharan nationalities. It also confirmed that they had been provided with medical care and were transferred and held at the Al-Assa border crossing before handing them over to the relevant authorities.
- Libya’s foreign ministry condemned an attack on its embassy in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, whose buildings were ransacked and looted. Tripoli “denounced the assault and looting” of the Libyan embassy building in Khartoum, whose staff had been evacuated due to the violence, according to a ministry statement, expressing its “deep regret and displeasure” at such acts, the Libyan ministry “calls on the parties to the conflict in Sudan to reject violence [….] and to protect diplomatic representations”, in the spirit of the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations between States, which “stipulates the obligation to protect embassies and diplomatic missions”.
- Misurata Court of Appeal issued its final ruling in the trial 53 members of ISIS, sentencing 35 of them to death. Others were to sentenced to life in prison while underaged members of the terrorist organization were sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by deportation to their countries.
- Calm has returned in some neighborhoods of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, which had been the scene of clashes between the member units of the Special Deterrence Forces (RADA) and the 444 Brigade. The clashes, which also spread to the streets of Ain Zara and Salah Al-Din neighborhoods, ended shortly before an agreement was reached on the withdrawal of all military vehicles and armored vehicles of the two armed groups.
- Drone strikes in Libya killed at least two people and wounded others, including an MP’s nephew, the lawmaker said, days after accusing the Tripoli-based government of targeting his home. The strikes near the western city of Zawiya were part of an operation that the authorities said was targeting smuggling networks.
NATIONAL POLITICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
- Libya’s Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh attended the inauguration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara. Erdogan has taken the oath of office for a new five-year presidential term, extending his rule into a third decade. Turkey’s longest serving leader, Erdoğan won 52.2% support in a 28 May runoff vote.
- A son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has been held in Lebanon for more than seven years, began a hunger strike Saturday to protest his detention without trial, his lawyer said. Hannibal Gaddafi has been held in Lebanon since 2015 after he was kidnapped from neighboring Syria where he had been living as a political refugee. He was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information about the fate of a Shiite cleric who went missing in Libya 45 years ago. Gaddafi was later taken by Lebanese authorities and has been held in a Beirut jail without trial.
- Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, held a security meeting to follow the progress of the military operation “to counter criminal gangs, drug and arms trafficking […] and fuel smuggling ” in the coastal regions of northwestern Libya, according to a statement by Dbeibeh’s media office.
- The Undersecretary of the Libyan Interior Ministry, Faraj Qaim, and the Chief of Staff of the Border Guard, Major General Moftah Shaqlouf, held an extensive meeting with the security leaders in Amsaad, in the awake of the security events that took place in the Libyan-Egyptian border area in Amsaad on Tuesday night between the border guards and smugglers.
- Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita announced the country’s potential plan to open consulates in Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya, reports Morocco World News, an online newspaper. The plan is reportedly part of Morocco’s efforts to improve consular services for Moroccans living abroad.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- U.N. Security Council voted on Friday to extend the legal framework of Operation IRINI, authorized to inspect vessels suspected of violating the arms embargo on Libya, for one year. The council UNSC Resolution 2292 (2016) with the adoption of Resolution 2684. Resolution 2684 was passed with 14 votes to, none against and one abstention, namely the Russian Federation.
- According to our sources, the upcoming visit of Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh to Italy is aimed at pleasing the Italian government and gaining its support in order to prevent the replacement of his government with another one. The Italian government has set three conditions for Dbeibeh to be officially received in Italy, as our sources have confirmed.
- British Ambassador to Libya, Caroline Hurndall, concluded today her week-long visit to Benghazi, in which she focused on the economy and strengthening the British trade partnership with eastern Libya. “I’m impressed by the economic growth I’ve seen, from visiting Benghazi’s port to meeting with local businesses,” Hurndall said via Twitter.
- The Chairman of the Libyan Parliament’s Foreign Committee, Youssef Al-Aqouri, confirmed during his meeting with the British Ambassador to Libya, Caroline Hurndall, the importance of British companies return to invest in Libya in the oil field and reconstruction. During the meeting, held in Benghazi, Al-Aqouri reviewed a number of issues and the latest developments of the situation in Libya, including security events in the western region.
- The Minister of Education, Musa Al-Maqrif, and the representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Libya, Michelle Servadi, signed a cooperation agreement to develop the education sector and train teachers.
