TRIPOLI: 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.
But lawmakers in the country’s eastern-based parliament accused the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) of hitting the home of Zawiya representative Ali Bouzribah.
“Drone strikes hit sites in Al-Maya port near Zawiya for the second consecutive day,” Libya’s Al-Ahrar channel said Sunday night.
It broadcast a video of a boat on fire at the port with a thick column of black smoke rising from it.
Bouzribah said in a Facebook post that his nephew had been injured and two other men killed in the strikes Sunday.
Images and video circulated on social media of both those killed and the lawmaker’s injured nephew in a hospital bed.
The strikes targeted Al-Maya, a small port between Zawiya and the capital that has seen repeated clashes between rival militias in recent weeks.
The UN-brokered GNU had on Thursday launched strikes around the same port, saying they targeted smugglers of drugs, fuel and people traffickers, before lawmakers on Friday accused them of targeting Bouzribah’s home.
More than a decade of violence has rocked Libya since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed strongman Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, with armed groups fighting for power and influence with impunity.
The North African country, which is awash with weapons, is split between the nominally interim government in Tripoli in the west, and another in the east backed by the legislature and military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Armed groups have exploited the chaos to fund their activities through fuel smuggling and the illegal trafficking of migrants.
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Libya drone strikes kill two, injure MP’s nephew
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Libya drone strikes kill two, injure MP’s nephew
- The strikes near the western city of Zawiya were part of an operation that the authorities said was targeting smuggling networks
Activists plan new, bigger flotilla to try to bring aid to Gaza
- Activists previously detained by Israel plan new flotilla
- Israeli officials denounce such missions as stunts
JOHANNESBURG: Activists behind a flotilla intercepted at sea last year by Israel while trying to bring aid to Gaza will try again this year, expecting more than twice as many boats carrying up to 1,000 medics, they said on Thursday.
The Israeli military halted the roughly 40 boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla last October as they attempted to reach blockaded Gaza, arresting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and more than 450 other participants.
Organizers, who gathered on Wednesday at the foundation of late South African leader Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, said they hope to bring 100 boats for their next attempt.
“It is a cause ... for those that want to rise and stand for justice and dignity for all,” Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, who was among activists detained last time, told the gathering. “We want to mobilize the ... global community to join forces with us.”
Israeli officials repeatedly denounced last year’s mission, and previous smaller-scale attempts to reach Gaza by sea, as publicity stunts.
Israel, which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denies withholding supplies for its more than 2 million residents. Palestinians and international aid bodies say supplies reaching the territory are still insufficient, despite a ceasefire reached in October which included guarantees of increased aid.
Following the ceasefire, Israeli forces now control more than 53 percent of the Gaza Strip where they have ordered residents out. Nearly the entire population is crowded into a narrow strip along the coast, mostly living in makeshift tents and damaged buildings.
If the flotilla is blocked again, the activists said it would still be worth it to highlight Gaza’s plight.
“We may not have reached Gaza physically (but) we have reached ... the people in Gaza,” said one of the activists, Susan Abdallah. “They know that we care, that we will not stop at anything until we actually break the siege.”
The Israeli military halted the roughly 40 boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla last October as they attempted to reach blockaded Gaza, arresting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and more than 450 other participants.
Organizers, who gathered on Wednesday at the foundation of late South African leader Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, said they hope to bring 100 boats for their next attempt.
“It is a cause ... for those that want to rise and stand for justice and dignity for all,” Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, who was among activists detained last time, told the gathering. “We want to mobilize the ... global community to join forces with us.”
Israeli officials repeatedly denounced last year’s mission, and previous smaller-scale attempts to reach Gaza by sea, as publicity stunts.
Israel, which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denies withholding supplies for its more than 2 million residents. Palestinians and international aid bodies say supplies reaching the territory are still insufficient, despite a ceasefire reached in October which included guarantees of increased aid.
Following the ceasefire, Israeli forces now control more than 53 percent of the Gaza Strip where they have ordered residents out. Nearly the entire population is crowded into a narrow strip along the coast, mostly living in makeshift tents and damaged buildings.
If the flotilla is blocked again, the activists said it would still be worth it to highlight Gaza’s plight.
“We may not have reached Gaza physically (but) we have reached ... the people in Gaza,” said one of the activists, Susan Abdallah. “They know that we care, that we will not stop at anything until we actually break the siege.”
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