Reuters
–

For years, the most violent clashes rocked Tripoli on the second night and continued until Wednesday morning, witnesses in the Libyan capital said after Monday’s killing of a major militia leader fought among rival factions.

The UN Libya Mission Unsmil said it was “deeply wary of escalating violence in the densely populated regions of Tripoli,” and frequently called for a ceasefire.

The latest unrest in Libyan capital could consolidate the power of Abdulhamid al-Dubiba, the prime minister of the divided country’s National Unified Government (GNU) and Turkish ally.

Libya has had little stability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising split between longtime independent Muammar Gaddafi and rival Eastern and Western factions in 2014, but the outbreak of a massive war in 2020 was suspended in an armistice.

Libya, a major energy exporter, is also an important way for immigrants heading to Europe, with the conflicts being caught up in foreign forces, including Turkey, Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Its main oil facilities are located in southern and eastern Libya, far from the current fighting in Tripuri.

Eastern Libya has been ruled by Commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) for ten years, but the rule of Tripoli and Western Libya has been split among many armed factions.

Dabeiba ordered on Tuesday to dismantle what he called an irregular armed group.

The announcement followed the murder of Abdulhani Kikuri, the leading militia chief, widely known as Ganiwa, and the sudden defeat of his Stabilization Support Devices (SSA) group by factions alongside Dubaiba.

The seizing of Libyan SSA territory by factions allied to Dbeibah, the 444 and 111 brigades exhibited a large concentration of power in the fragmented capital, leaving a special deterrent (RADA) as the last big faction not closely linked to the prime minister.

London
AP
–

The man who spent nearly 40 years in a British prison for the murder of a barmaid said he was not suffering Tuesday after his murder conviction was overturned and released after being exonerated by DNA evidence.

Peter Sullivan put his hand on his mouth and wept as the London Court of Appeals cancelled his beliefs and ordered his freedom after years of fighting to prove his innocence.

After seeing the video hearing from Wakefield Prison in northern England, Sullivan said through his lawyer that he was not resenting and was eager to meet his loved one.

“It is said that the truth will set you free because God is my witness,” Attorney Sarah Myat read from a statement outside the court. “Unfortunately, it’s a shame that we don’t give you a timescale to move forward to resolve any mistakes I made. I’m not mad, I’m not bitter.”

He was the victim of the longest service of an unlawful conviction in the UK, Matt said.

Sullivan, 68, was convicted in 1987 of killing Diane Cindall in Bevington, near Liverpool, northwest England. He was behind the bar for 38 years.

Sindal, 21, a florist who worked in the marriage, had returned from part-time work at the pub on a Friday night in August 1986 when the van ran out of fuel, police said. She was the last time she saw her walking down the road after midnight.

Her body was found in an alley about 12 hours later. She was sexually assaulted and severely beaten.

The sex fluids found in Sindall’s body could not be scientifically analyzed until recently. The 2024 test revealed that it wasn’t Sullivan, lawyer Jason Pitter said.

“The prosecutor’s case is that it was one person. It was one person who sexually assaulted the victim,” Pitter said. “The evidence here is that no one was the accused.”

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson did not challenge the appeal and said it was unthinkable that Sullivan would have been charged if DNA evidence was available at the time of the investigation.

Merseyside police said they are “committed to doing everything” to resume investigations and find the killer as the appeal is ongoing.

The Criminal Case Review Board, which is investigating the possibility of an illegal conviction, refused to refer Sullivan’s case to the Court of Appeal in 2008.

A spokesman for the committee said he made the right decision based on the evidence at the time, but regretted not identifying a potential miscarriage of justice in the initial review.

Sullivan appealed in 2019 without the help of the CCRC, and the court declined the bid in 2021.

However, the committee was able to take up the case later that year and find the DNA that set Sullivan freely using scientific methods that were not available during previous reviews.

“In light of that evidence, it is impossible to consider the appellant’s beliefs safe,” said Judge Timothy Holloyd.

Police said the DNA found in subsequent investigations was not matched by anyone in the national database. They excluded Cindal’s fiancée, members of her family, and more than 260 men, who had been screened since the investigation resumed, as suspects.

Sullivan’s sister Kim Smith reflected outside the courtroom on tolls that won two families.

“We lost Peter for 39 years and we’re not alone at the end of the day,” Smith said. “Peter didn’t win, and there’s no Cindal’s family either. They lost their daughter, they’re not going to get her back. We’ve got Peter back and now we have to try and build a life around him again.”

CNN
–

Israel targeted Hamas leader Mohamed Singhwar on a strike at a hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday evening, according to two sources familiar with the issue, according to senior Israeli officials and two sources.

He became the de facto leader of extremist groups after Israeli forces killed his brother Yahya Sinwar last October.

The strike on Tuesday killed six Palestinians and injured at least 40 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said it had struck at Khan Eunice’s European hospital to target “Hamasterolists from Command and Control Centres” in the underground infrastructure under the hospital. The IDF did not identify a strike target.

According to nurse Dr. Saleh Al Hams, multiple airstrikes have been struck in the hospital’s yards. Some people are buried under the tiled rub, he said, calling it a “catastrophe.” The medical team tried to move patients to a safe unit within the hospital.

Videos from the scene showed towering pillars of smoke and dust from what appears to be some of Gaza’s biggest strikes in recent weeks.

Hamas rejected Israeli claims about Singwar, saying in a statement, “Palestinian resistance is the only authority that has been empowered to confirm or deny what is publicly available through official platforms.”

On Tuesday night, the IDF said it had intercepted two rockets fired from Gaza. The third rocket has landed in the open area. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad military wing has argued responsibility for the attack, saying it fired fire in an Israeli city near Gaza.

After some time, Israel issued evacuation warnings to Jabariya refugee camps and areas near northern Gaza, saying the IDF will “attack and operate anywhere where rockets are fired.”

The targeting of Singwar comes the day after Hamas released Israeli American Edan Alexander with a good-willed gesture to the United States. As Hamas communicated with the Trump administration, the contract to release a single hostage was on the sidelines for Israel.

The United States has expressed optimism about negotiations in Qatar with President Donald Trump and his envoy Steve Witkov in the Middle East. Before leaving Israel, Witkov promised the hostage family that he would “be someone who is less stolen by their pursuit.”

But with negotiations to begin in Doha and Israeli teams along the way – Singwar’s target has just tried to kill Hamas’ key decision makers, which Israel needs to seal off the potential agreement.

Israeli officials thought that Mohammed Singwar was just as hard-lined as his brother Yahya, but he was far more experienced in the military. According to the IDF, he ordered the Khan Eunice Brigade until 2016. Like Yahiya, he is considered to be one of the main plotters for the terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7th.

Since the start of the war he remained hidden along with many of the Hamas senior leaders in Gaza. In December 2023, IDF released a video of what they said. In February 2024, the IDF said they placed his office in West Khan Eunice.

Former US ambassador for Israeli Dan Shapiro said Singar is likely a barrier to negotiations. “There’s very little chance that the war will end before he dies,” Shapiro, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told CNN. “His removal opened the door for the release of all hostages and began moving towards the postwar future of Gaza, without Hamas.”

However, even if Singwar dies, it may take some time before Israel officially states that he has officially killed him. In mid-July, Israel said it targeted Mohammed Deif on a strike in the designated humanitarian belt in southern Gaza. It took me more than two weeks until August, before the IDF actually declared that he had killed DEIF. Hamas did not confirm his death until the end of January, almost six months later.

By October, most of the people at the Israeli military crossing were Yahyasinwar. Yahya, who was sentenced to four life sentences in 1988, said she became fluent in Hebrew and spent many years studying her enemies. He was released in 2011 as part of the contract to release Israeli soldier Girad Sharit. His release stems from the fact that his brother Mohammed was one of Sharit’s temptations and insisted on including Yahiya’s deal.

Back in Gaza, Yahiya quickly passed through the ranks of extremist organizations and eventually became its leader.

From October 7th, Yahya became Israel’s most wanted man, and the IDF searched for him in a small coastal enclave. US officials believed that Israel had approached Yahya several times and washed him out of his underground hiding spot.

However, Yahiya moved undetected in the tunnel beneath Gaza, rarely coming to the ground, avoiding detection by Israeli electronic surveillance. Ultimately, it was a daily Israeli patrol in Gaza, engaged in a shootout in Rafa, southern Gaza, and discovered Yahiya’s body in Rafa.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Dhaka, Bangladesh
AP
–

Bangladesh’s election commission has cancelled the registration of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, preventing him from participating in the next general election, which is expected to be held by June next year.

The decision on Monday comes hours after the country’s interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Yunus issued an official notice banning the Awami League Party and its affiliates from operating online and elsewhere.

A formal notice from the Home Ministry was issued on Monday two days after the interim cabinet decided that the special court would ban all party activities under the state’s anti-terrorism law until the trial of the party and its leaders.

In the notice, the government said it had banned all activities “including all kinds of publications, media, online and social media” as well as “all kinds of campaigns, processions, meetings, meetings (or) meetings (or) meetings until the trials of leaders and activists are complete.”

He said the decision was soon effective.

Separately, the Election Commission said Monday that it would not allow the Hasina-led party to challenge the next election. Political parties must be registered with the Election Commission to participate in elections.

Government advisers said Monday that anyone who posted comments online in support of the Awami League party will face arrest.

On Sunday, the Awami League accused the interim government of trampling on “democratic norms” by banning the “stalking sector” and its activities. In a statement, the ban said “the vague divisions within society have strangled democratic norms, promoted ongoing pogroms against opponents, and strangled all undemocratic measures.”

The Awami League is one of the two major political parties in Bangladesh, with parliamentary democracy with a violent history of coups and political assassinations.

Hasina, daughter of Bangladeshi’s independent leader Sheikh Mujibour Rahman, fled the country on August 5th last year and has since been exiled in India along with many senior party colleagues and former cabinet rulers and lawmakers. They are accused of killing protesters during the uprising against Hasina’s 15-year regulations from July to August last year.

The UN Human Rights Office said in a February report that up to 1,400 people could have been killed during the three-week anti-hasina protests. However, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ office was recommended in a report that “we will effectively disenfranchise voters in large part, refraining from banning political parties that undermine a genuine multi-party return to democracy.”

The Awami League, which led a nine-month war with Pakistan for independence in 1971, has been under severe pressure since Hasina’s expulsion. Protesters attacked and ran around many offices, including Dhaka’s headquarters. It accuses the interim government of sponsoring mobs to attack the homes and businesses of their activists and leaders. Thousands of supporters have said they have been arrested across the country, and many have been killed.

Yunus said the next election is likely to take place in December or June next year.