The clashes stemmed from an attempted assassination of al-Baqrah on Friday (August 9, 2024), which his militia blamed on al-Shahida Sabriya, according to local media reports. File
| Photo Credit: AP

“Clashes between two heavily armed militia groups in Libya’s capital terrorised residents and killed about a dozen people, the latest bout of violence in the largely lawless North African nation,” officials said Saturday (August 10, 2024).

“The hours-long clashes, which involved heavy weapons, occurred Friday (August 9, 2024) in Tripoli’s eastern neighbourhood of Tajoura between Rahba al-Duruae militia, which is led by warlord Bashir Khalfallah – known as al-Baqrah – and another militia al-Shahida Sabriya,” the officials added.

The Health Ministry’s Ambulance and Emergency Services said at least 9 people were killed and 16 others were wounded in the hours-long clashes.

The clashes stemmed from an attempted assassination of al-Baqrah on Friday (August 9, 2024), which his militia blamed on al-Shahida Sabriya, according to local media reports.

Khaled al-Meshry, the newly elected head of the west-based High Council of State, condemned the assassination attempt and called for an investigation to hold those responsible accountable.

The warring parties are allied with Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s government. Its spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The violence underscored the fragility of war-torn Libya following the 2011 uprising-turned-civil war, which toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Amid the chaos, militias grew in wealth and power, particularly in Tripoli and the western part of the country.

Libya has been divided for years between rival administrations in the east and west, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments. Currently, it is governed by Mr. Dbehiba’s government in Tripoli and by the administration of Prime Minister Ossama Hammad in the east.

Western Libya is controlled by an array of lawless militias allied with Dbeibah’s government, while forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter control the country’s east and south.

Friday’s (August 9, 2024) militia infighting was the latest in a series of clashes between militias competing for influence in the country’s west.

In May, militia clashes rocked the coastal town of Zawiya, trapping families for houses inside their homes, killing at least one person and wounding 22 others. And in August last year, a 24-hour period of fighting between rival militias in Tripoli killed at least 45 people.

The capital’s clashes came as Hafter’s forces said it deployed troops to the southwestern areas to secure Libya’s southern borders. The deployment prompted militias in western Libya to mobilise amid mounting concerns of a potential new war between east and west Libya.

The United Nations’ mission and Western embassies in Libya expressed their concerns that the military movement could explode into an all-out war between Hafter‘s forces and the West-based militias, four years after a cease-fire deal ended a 14-month war between the two sides.

“Such movements risk escalation and violent confrontation and could put the 2020 ceasefire at risk,” said a joint statement by the embassies of France, Germany, Italy, the U.K. and the U.S.

New Delhi:

India has relaxed its travel ban on Libya from the previous advisory after assessing the prevailing security situation in the country, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.

Earlier, Libya along with several other countries was on the list of New Delhi’s travel ban list.

The modified statement advises the Indian nationals to “avoid non-essential travel to Libya.”

“In partial modification of MEA’s Press Release dated 23 May 2016 imposing ban on Indian nationals traveling to Libya and in response to our assessment of the prevailing security situation in Libya, Indian nationals are advised to avoid non-essential travel to Libya,” the release stated.

The MEA has also urged Indian nationals to exercise caution and stay in contact with the Indian Embassy in Tripoli.

It also provided an emergency phone number to contact the embassy: +218943992046

“Indian nationals in Libya are advised to exercise caution, avoid inter-province travel by road and remain in contact with the Indian Embassy in Tripoli at emergency phone number: +218943992046,” MEA added.

Last week, the Indian Embassy in Lebanon advised all Indian nationals to leave Lebanon as tensions escalated between Israel and Lebanon in the Middle East after the rocket attack at Golan Heights, followed by the killing of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

The embassy advised the Indian nationals to not travel to Lebanon till further notice.

Meanwhile, it further advised the Indian nationals living in Lebanon to exercise extreme caution and avoid any movements.

It also asked them to remain in touch with the Indian embassy in Beirut.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Rescuers and relatives of victims set up tents in front of collapsed buildings in Derna, Libya, Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. Some 11,300 people died when two dams collapsed during Mediterranean storm Daniel last week sending a wall of water gushing through the city, according to the Red Crescent aid group. A further 10,000 people are missing, and presumed dead.
| Photo Credit: AP

More than 11,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands are missing following the catastrophic collapse of two dams in the eastern Libyan city of Derna. The dam collapse came after an extreme storm, Storm Daniel, slammed into the north African country. The Conversation Africa’s Moina Spooner asked water resources and engineering expert Nadhir Al-Ansari, who has researched the design and safety of dams, to provide insights into the disaster.

Also Read | Libya investigates dams’ collapse after flood killed over 11,000

Infographics | Mapping Libya’s flood damage

Also Read | Libya’s flood-ravaged Derna struggles to cope with thousands of corpses

An aerial view shows the destruction, in the aftermath of the floods in Derna, Libya September 16, 2023. REUTERS/Ayman Al-sahili TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
| Photo Credit: AYMAN AL-SAHILI

Storm Daniel makes landfall

On September 10, a Mediterranean storm made landfall near the Benghazi city in northeast Libya. It brought record-breaking rainfall to the country. Between September 9 and 11, more than 100 mm rainfall was recorded. The Al Bayda station near the coast saw 414 mm of rainfall, the highest ever recorded in 24 hours. Usually, the region receives just around 1.5 mm of rain for the whole of September.

Nine areas were affected by the storm, and seven were severely affected. Derna city was among the areas severely affected. However, rainfall alone did not cause the destruction in the city.

Dams near Derna collapse

As the storm brought record-breaking rainfall, Al-Wadia dam to the south of the city collapsed. Following this, water rushed down the Wadia valley for around 12 kilometres before reaching the second dam closer to Derna city.

The second dam, too, collapsed under the force of the fast-moving water. With this, the water surged into Derna. The floodwaters destroyed entire blocks. and five bridges along its path.

Estimated deaths have crossed 11,000. More than 38,000 people have been displaced. Around 2,176 structures have been damaged in Derna alone.

Also read |Libya’s deadly floods: what we know

The problem of altitude

Derna’s low-lying terrain made it more vulnerable to flooding. The elevation near the first dam is around 200 m, gradually dropping to around 45 m near the second dam. At Derna’s coastline, elevation is around just 10 m. Combined with this, the Wadi valley acted as an effective conduit in channelling the floodwaters straight into the city.

Washington:

The death count from catastrophic flooding in Libya’s eastern city of Derna has climbed to 11,300, the United Nations said in an update on Saturday, citing the Libyan Red Crescent.

Another 10,100 people are still missing in the devastated city, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, using Red Crescent figures.

Elsewhere in eastern Libya outside Derna, the flooding took an additional 170 lives, the update said.

“These figures are expected to rise as search-and-rescue crews work tirelessly to find survivors,” the UN update said.

Nearly a week after Storm Daniel hit northeastern Libya, “the humanitarian situation remains particularly grim in Derna,” the update said.

Severe drinking water problems have gripped the city, and at least 55 children were poisoned from drinking polluted water, it said.

In surrounding areas, most of which have seen years of armed conflict, the UN warned of the dangers of landmines shifting from floodwaters, threatening civilians who enter on foot.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A view of Susah, Libya, in the aftermath of the floods on September 15, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Libyan authorities sealed off an inundated city on Friday to allow search teams to dig through the mud and hollowed-out buildings for 10,000 people missing and feared dead after the official toll from flooding soared past 11,000. Authorities warned that disease and explosives shifted by the waters could take yet more lives.

Two dams collapsed in exceptionally heavy rains from Mediterranean storm Daniel early Monday, sending a wall of water several meters high gushing down a valley that cuts through the city of Derna.

The unusual flooding and Libya’s political chaos contributed to the enormous toll. The oil-rich state has been split since 2014 between rival governments in the east and west backed by various militia forces and international patrons.

The disaster has brought rare unity, as government agencies across Libya’s divide rushed to help the affected areas. But relief efforts have been slowed by the destruction after several bridges that connect the city were destroyed.

Heaps of twisted metal and flooded cars littered Derna’s streets, which are caked in a tan mud. Teams have buried bodies in mass graves outside the city and in nearby towns, Eastern Libya’s health minister, Othman Abduljaleel, said.

But officials worried that thousands of bodies were still hidden in the muck — or floating in the sea, where divers were sent to search.

Adel Ayad, a survivor of the flood, recalled watching as the waters rose to the fourth floor of his building.

“The waves swept people away from the tops of buildings, and we could see people carried by floodwater,” among them his neighbors, he said.

Health officials warned that standing water opened the door to disease — but said there was no need to rush burials or put the dead in mass graves, as bodies usually do not pose a risk in such cases.

“You’ve got a lot of standing water. It doesn’t mean the dead bodies pose a risk, but it does mean that the water itself is contaminated by everything,” Dr. Margaret Harris, spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, told reporters in Geneva. “So you really have to focus on ensuring that people have have access to safe water.”

Imene Trabelsi, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, warned that another danger lurked in the mud: landmines and other explosive remnants left behind by the country’s protracted conflict.

There are leftover explosives in Libya dating back to World War II, but most of the remaining ones are from the civil conflict that began in 2011. Between 2011 and 2021, some 3,457 people were killed and wounded by landmines and explosive weapon remnants in Libya, according to the international Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor.

Even before the flooding, Trabelsi said the “efforts and the capacity” to detect and demine areas were limited. After the floods, she said, explosive devices may have been swept to “new, undetected areas.”

To allow emergency crews to do their work, residents were being evacuated from Derna and only search-and-rescue teams would be allowed to enter, Salam al-Fergany, director general of the Ambulance and Emergency Service in eastern Libya, announced late Thursday.

The Libyan Red Crescent said as of Thursday that 11,300 people in Derna had died and another 10,100 were reported missing. The storm also killed about 170 people elsewhere in the country.

Officials have said that Libya’s political chaos has contributed to the loss of life.

“Government institutions are not functioning as they should,” Lori Hieber Girardet, the head of the risk knowledge branch the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Khalifa Othman, a Derna resident who is searching desperately for missing loved ones, said he blamed authorities for the extent of the disaster.

“My son, a doctor who is graduated this year, my nephew and all his family, my grandchild, my daughter and her husband are all missing, and we are still searching for them,” he said. “All the people are upset and angry — there was no preparedness.”

This handout picture provided by the Iranian foreign ministry shows Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (R) receiving Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush in Tehran on July 25, 2023. Photo by Iranian Foreign Ministry / AFP

The leader of Libya’s government said Sunday that he had suspended his Foreign Minister after her Israeli counterpart announced he had held talks with her last week in Rome.

Najla al-Mangoush has been “temporarily suspended” and will be subject to an “administrative investigation” by a commission chaired by the justice minister, Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on Sunday evening in an official decision posted on Facebook.

The Libyan foreign ministry described it as a “chance and unofficial encounter”, but news of the meeting had already led to street protests in several Libyan cities.

The political row broke out Sunday after Israel’s foreign ministry said the two countries’ foreign ministers had met the previous week.

The statement said Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Mangoush, his Libyan counterpart in the Tripoli-based administration, spoke at a meeting in Rome hosted by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

The Israeli statement described it as the first such diplomatic initiative between the two countries.

“I spoke with the foreign minister about the great potential for the two countries from their relations,” Cohen said in the statement from Israel’s foreign ministry.

But the Libyan Foreign Ministry said Sunday evening that Mangoush had “refused to meet with any party” representing Israel.

“What happened in Rome was a chance and unofficial encounter, during a meeting with his Italian counterpart, which did not involve any discussion, agreement or consultation,” the Ministry said in a statement.

The Minister had reiterated “in a clear and unambiguous manner Libya’s position regarding the Palestinian cause”, the statement added.

News of the meeting had sparked protests in some Libyan cities and a letter from the country’s Presidential Council requesting clarification.

The Libyan Foreign Ministry accused Israel of trying to “present this incident” as a “meeting or talks”.

In the Israel foreign ministry statement, Cohen was quoted as saying that the two discussed “the importance of preserving the heritage of Libyan Jews, which includes renovating synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in the country”.

“Libya’s size and strategic location offer a huge opportunity for the State of Israel,” he added.

There was no immediate confirmation of the meeting from Rome.

Street protests

Earlier on Sunday evening, Libya’s Presidential Council requested “clarifications” from the government, according to Libya al-Ahrar TV, citing correspondence from spokeswoman Najwa Wheba.

The Presidential Council, which has some executive powers and sprang from the UN-backed political process, includes three members representing the three Libyan provinces.

The letter said that this development “does not reflect the foreign policy of the Libyan state, does not represent the Libyan national constants and is considered a violation of Libyan laws which criminalise normalisation with the ‘Zionist entity'”.

It asked the head of government “to apply the law if the meeting took place”.

On the streets of Tripoli and its suburbs, protests erupted Sunday evening in a sign of refusal of normalisation with Israel. The protests spread to other cities where young people blocked roads, burned tyres and waved the Palestinian flag.

Like several other North African countries, Libya has a rich Jewish heritage.

But during decades of rule by former Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who was a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, thousands of Jews were expelled from Libya and many synagogues were destroyed.

Kadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011 by a NATO-backed uprising that plunged the country into more than a decade of chaos and lawlessness.

The country is split politically with rival administrations — the Tripoli government in the west and another in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Israel has normalised relations with some Arab countries in recent years as part of US-backed deals known as the Abraham Accords.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government has come under intense criticism from Arab states because of surging violence in the West Bank and for backing the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territory.