TRIPOLI: A Libyan militia leader whose detention sparked clashes that killed 55 people in the capital Tripoli this week has been released, a military official said Thursday.
Gun battles had raged on the streets of Tripoli from Monday night through Tuesday after 444 Brigade leader Mahmoud Hamza was apprehended by the rival Al-Radaa Force.
Hamza “was released on Wednesday night and returned to his headquarters south of Tripoli,” an official at army headquarters in western Libya told AFP.
“He was released under a government-sponsored cease-fire agreement” which also provides for the “withdrawal of fighters from the front lines,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Videos circulated on social media on Wednesday night showed Hamza dressed in military fatigues and surrounded by his fighters at the Tekbali barracks south of the Libyan capital.
Fighting broke out in Tripoli after Hamza’s detention on Monday, killing 55 people, wounding 146 and forcing the closure of the capital’s only civilian airport — the worst armed clashes seen in Libya for a year.
The two armed groups are among the myriad of militias that have vied for power in the North African country since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
A period of relative stability had led the United Nations to express hope for delayed elections to be held this year.
Calm returned to Tripoli and the Mitiga airport reopened after the cease-fire agreement reached late Tuesday between Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah’s government and a social council in the Al-Radaa stronghold of Soug el-Joumaa in the capital’s southeast.
“The situation is stable, with police patrols having been deployed” in the areas that had seen fighting, allowing people to move around, the military official said.
Libya is split between Dbeibah’s UN-backed government in the west and another in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Libyan militia leader freed after deadly clashes
https://arab.news/bcsp7
Libyan militia leader freed after deadly clashes
- Hamza “was released on Wednesday night and returned to his headquarters south of Tripoli,” an official said
- “He was released under a government-sponsored cease-fire agreement”: official
Libya holds funeral for military officials killed in plane crash
- Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah praises Gen. Mohammed Ali Ahmad Al-Haddad for organizing the military
TRIPOLI: Libya on Saturday held a military funeral for the military chief of western Libya and four of his officers who died in a plane crash in Turkiye.
The bodies arrived at Tripoli International Airport in caskets draped with Libyan flags and were carried in a funeral procession with soldiers holding their photographs.
The private jet with Gen. Mohammed Ali Ahmad Al-Haddad, four other military officers, and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after taking off from Ankara, Turkiye’s capital, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said a technical malfunction on the plane caused the crash, but the investigation is still ongoing in coordination with Turkiye.
Libya plunged into chaos after the country’s 2011 uprising toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi. The country split, with rival administrations in the east and west.
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s government governs the country from Tripoli, and Prime Minister Ossama Hammad’s administration governs the east.
Dbeibah praised Al-Haddad during a funeral speech for organizing the military “despite overwhelming darkness and outlaw groups.”
Al-Haddad played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has split, much like Libya’s institutions.
“Our martyrs weren’t just military leaders but also statesmen who were wise and disciplined and carried responsibility and believed that the national Libyan army is the country’s shield and ... that building institutions is the real path toward a stable and secure Libya,” Dbeibah said.
The burial will take place on Sunday in Misrata, about 200 km east of Tripoli, officials said.
The crash took place as the delegation was returning to Tripoli from Ankara, where it was holding defense talks aimed at boosting military cooperation.
A funeral ceremony was also held at Murted airfield base near Ankara, attended by the Turkish military chief and the defense minister.
Military chief Gen. Selcuk Bayraktaroglu also accompanied the bodies on the plane to Libya, Turkish public broadcaster TRT reported.
Two French crew members of a Falcon 50 jet died in the crash, a French diplomatic source said.
The source did not identify the French crew members but said the French Foreign Ministry was in contact with their families and providing them with assistance.
The Dassault Falcon 50 is a French-made long-range business jet.
The one that went down was chartered by a Malta-based private company, Harmony Jets, which, according to its website, performs maintenance in Lyon, France.
Harmony Jets declined to give information about the nationalities or identities of the crew on its plane.
Airport Haber, a Turkish site specialized in aeronautical news, said the pilot and copilot were both French and cited a Greek newspaper report that a Greek cabin attendant had joined the company two months ago.
France’s BEA, which handles civil aviation investigations, said on X that it was participating in the probe into the crash launched by Turkiye.
Turkiye’s transport minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, said the flight recorders would be analyzed in a “neutral” country.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said contact had been made with Germany to carry out that.
