Tag: libya

  • Libya’s Tripoli airport diverts flights after rocket attack

    Mitiga was closed until recently amid militia clashes in Tripoli Image copyright AFP Image caption Mitiga was closed until recently amid militia clashes in Tripoli

    The only working airport in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, has diverted flights after it came under rocket fire.

    There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties at Mitiga International Airport after the attack on Tuesday night.

    The airport had only reopened on Friday following clashes between rival militias.

    A UN-backed government is nominally in power in Tripoli but militias occupy much of the rest of the country.

    Why is Libya so lawless? Is it possible to hold elections in Libya? Libya and migration crisis

    The rocket attack forced a Libyan Airlines flight from Alexandria in Egypt to divert to Misrata, some 200km (120 miles) east of the capital.

    Other flights would also be diverted and a source told Agence France-Presse that plans were under way to move other planes at Tripoli to Misrata.

    Libyan Airlines is the only operator, running internal flights and international ones to a limited number of countries. It is barred from EU airports on security grounds.

  • Migrant trouble: Ratings drown off Libyan coast

    Migrants are seen in a rubber dinghy as they are rescued by Libyan coast guards off the coast of Libya, 15 January 2015 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Over 1,500 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean to this point this yr

    more than ONE HUNDRED migrants died in a shipwreck off the Libyan sea coast earlier this month, an help agency says.

    According to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) two rubber boats set off on 1 September, however one in all the vessels deflated and sank.

    The 276 survivors had been ultimately taken to the Libyan port town of Khoms, round ONE HUNDRED km (SIXTY TWO miles) to the south-east of the capital Tripoli.

    MSF says the group is now being held in “arbitrary detention”.

    The survivors, together with pregnant ladies, kids and infants, were treated by means of MSF for pneumonia or burns from leaked fuel.

    Why is Libya so lawless? How Libya holds the key to solving Europe’s migration problem ‘Used as a slave’ in a Libyan detention centre

    Over 1,500 migrants have died whilst trying to cross the Mediterranean up to now this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

    Many more have been rescued, although Italy, a prime destination for migrants traveling from Libya, has just lately started to refuse access to migrant ships.

    Concerns remain for folks who are lower back to Libya through the country’s Coast Shield, with reviews rising late closing yr of sub-Saharan African migrants being abducted for ransom or sold as slaves within the northern African country.

    Libya is still volatile for the reason that overthrow of lengthy-time period chief Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

    Hundreds of migrants held in detention had to be moved after deadly clashes broke out within the Tripoli in late August, even as gunmen also attacked the National Oil Supplier on 10 September.

  • Libya violence: UN says ceasefire agreed

    Smoke rises as people check the damage after a rocket hit a camp for displaced people during the fighting between rival armed groups in Tripoli on 2 September 2018 Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption Heaps have been displaced by the violence and dozens killed within the previous week

    The United Countries says the rival military factions that had been fighting in Libya’s capital Tripoli for the past week have agreed a ceasefire.

    no less than FORTY SEVEN other folks were killed and 1,800 families internally displaced via the violence, officers say.

    Last week, a ceasefire deal introduced by way of officers from western cities handiest held for a few hours.

    A UN-backed government is nominally in energy in the capital, however militias occupy much of the rest of the rustic.

    Why is Libya so lawless? Libya and migration drawback

    “Below the auspices of UN envoy Ghassan Salame, a ceasefire agreement was once reached and signed lately to finish all hostilities, offer protection to civilians, shield public and personal assets,” the Unsmil project said.

    Image copyright EPA Symbol caption The indiscriminate nature of a few of the heavy firepower used has placed everybody in danger

    The violence has pressured thousands of people to flee to nearby cities or are searching for safe haven in other parts of the capital, at the same time as many extra have remained trapped inside of their homes.

    The violence broke out remaining week while militias from a city to the south of Tripoli attacked its southern areas, leading to combating with native militias that fortify the GNA.

    Hundreds of migrants trapped by way of the fighting have been moved to other detention centres.

    Libya has confronted proceeding chaos considering the fact that Nato-subsidized forces overthrew long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

  • Libyan court docket sentences FORTY FIVE to demise over 2011 killings

    Rebels celebrate as they tear down 'hand crushing a plane' statue in Colonel Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Libyan rebels, backed via Nato, took Tripoli from regime forces at the end of August 2011

    A Libyan criminal courtroom has sentenced FORTY FIVE militiamen to loss of life by firing squad for killing demonstrators in Tripoli in 2011, the justice ministry says.

    They are accused of commencing fireplace on dozens as rebellion forces closed in on the capital throughout the rebellion against former chief Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

    It is thought to be the top collection of loss of life sentences handed out because the overthrow of the regime, AFP reports.

    Libya has struggled to revive peace because the uprising seven years ago.

    Aside from the 45 sentenced to demise, 54 more got 5-yr prison phrases and some other 22 were acquitted of fees relating to demonstrator deaths.

    Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (pictured in 2011) used to be freed from prison last 12 months and has spoken about coming into politics

    The Ones verdicts haven’t been carried out and historically such a lot loss of life sentence prisoners in Libya have ended up sending existence in jail as a substitute.

    The years for the reason that overthrowing and killing of Colonel Gaddafi have been marred by violence and instability in Libya, with out a authority in full regulate.

    the country has splintered and since 2014 has been divided into competing political and armed forces factions based totally in Tripoli and the east.

    Earlier this yr a few rival factions agreed to hold parliamentary and presidential elections later this yr.

    But global observers, together with human rights teams and politicians abroad, have cast doubt on whether or not the poll will have to and can cross in advance.

  • Islamic State and the situation in Iraq and Syria in maps

    the united states-led coalition against so-called Islamic State (IS) says NINETY EIGHT% of territory as soon as claimed through the jihadist staff throughout Iraq and Syria has been recaptured.

    Iraq’s government announced in December that its conflict in opposition to IS was once over, virtually 4 years after the crowd first seized parts of the country.

    That month also noticed Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announce a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria, after IS was left controlling only a few wallet of land.

    there’s little knowledge from legit assets in regards to the Russian air strikes. The Institute for the Observe of War stated proof instructed Russian planes targeted deep into competition-held territory, and helped Syrian executive forces to retake keep watch over of the town of Aleppo in December 2016.

    However, Russia warned the u.s. coalition that it could deal with its airplane as targets after the u.s. shot down a Syrian military airplane in the course of the attack on Raqqa. The incident ended in a suspension of communications among the two sides aimed at warding off clashes within the air.

    World achieve of IS

    With the proclamation of a caliphate on the finish of June 2014, IS signalled its intention to spread past Iraq and Syria.

    By Means Of August 2016, IS used to be reported to be operational in 18 nations across the global, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, in line with evidence observed by means of the us Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle. It additionally discovered signs of what it referred to as “aspiring branches” in Mali, Egypt, Somalia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines.

    All The Way Through 2016, Is Also claimed assaults in a number of nations, including Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, France, Belgium, Germany, the united states and Bangladesh. In 2017, IS SAID to be behind a minimum of two attacks within the UNITED KINGDOM.

    The proclamation of the caliphate brought about a surge within the number of foreign warring parties vacationing to Syria and Iraq to sign up for IS.

    in line with the top of the united kingdom’s intelligence service, MI5, more than 800 other folks have travelled from UK to enroll in the struggle in Iraq and Syria – and A HUNDRED THIRTY of them had died.

    How does IS get its investment?

    Oil was the most important single supply of earnings for IS. the gang seized keep an eye on of many oil fields in Syria and Iraq, and bought oil on the black market.

    But income has fallen due to the fact that IS lost regulate of oil-producing areas in northern Syrian and western Iraq, and US-led coalition and Russian air strikes began targeting oil infrastructure.

    Income from taxes and fees has additionally fallen as IS has lost regulate of best towns like Mosul and Raqqa.

    Money obtained via looting and fines to begin with larger, especially whilst IS seized Mosul in 2014, but has considering declined.

    At one aspect, IS was once reported to be so in need of finances that it used to be implementing random fines for offences like driving at the flawed aspect of the road.

    according to a report through IHS Markit, territorial losses are the primary issue contributing to IS’s loss of income. It says the crowd’s talent to make amends for financial losses by means of increasing the fiscal burden at the inhabitants it controls appears to have reached its limits.

    The combat to stay rich

    Where are the refugees?

    About 5.5 million Syrians have fled in another country to flee the preventing in Syria, in keeping with the UN. Most have ended up in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

    Virtually a million Syrians applied for asylum in Europe between April 2011 and July 2017, consistent with UN figures.

    There are predicted to be approximately 6.1 million Syrians who have been displaced from their houses and live in camps or other makeshift accommodation.

    The UN estimates there are approximately 2.8 million Iraqis who’ve been pressured to leave their properties to flee the conflict with IS and are displaced inside the united states of america. Another 2.8 million folks have returned to their houses due to the fact 2014 – others have been avoided from returning by the war and the resulting harm to homes and infrastructure.