Dozens of bodies found in militia-run sites in Libya's Tripoli; UN alarmed

The United Nations has raised grave concerns following the discovery of dozens of bodies in areas of the Libyan capital Tripoli previously controlled by a powerful militia, the Stabilisation Support Apparatus (SSA), whose leader was slain in clashes last month.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said on Wednesday that his office was 'shocked' by evidence of severe human rights violations at detention sites run by the SSA, a group once led by Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli, who was killed during an eruption of fighting in mid-May in Tripoli.
'Our worst-held fears are being confirmed: dozens of bodies have been discovered at these sites, along with the discovery of suspected instruments of torture and abuse, and potential evidence of extrajudicial killings,' Turk said in a statement.
Investigators were informed that 10 charred bodies were found at the SSA's base in Abu Salim, while another 67 corpses were recovered from hospital refrigerators at Abu Salim and Al Khadra facilities. A suspected burial site was also reported at the Tripoli Zoo, which had been under SSA control. The identities of the victims remain unknown.
Turk called for the immediate sealing of all affected locations to preserve evidence, demanding international access to ensure accountability.Al-Kikli, among Tripoli's most influential militia commanders, had come into conflict with rival groups before his death. His SSA was officially tied to the Presidential Council under the UN-recognised Government of National Unity (GNU), formed in 2021.
His assassination last month triggered fierce fighting across Tripoli, where several were killed and dozens wounded. Schools closed, a citywide curfew was imposed, and the UN Support Mission in Libya urged all parties to halt hostilities and protect civilians.
With no unified national force, Tripoli remains at the mercy of competing armed factions, many of which operate with impunity. The UN continues to push for dialogue and a ceasefire mechanism as part of wider efforts to stabilise the country.

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Boston Globe

2 hours ago

• Boston Globe

A deadly race for food: Palestinians in Gaza risk harrowing journey day after day

'I have nothing to feed my children,' he said, nearly crying. 'My heart is broken.' Advertisement Israel began allowing food into Gaza this past month after cutting it off completely for 10 weeks, though United Nations officials say it is not enough to stave off starvation. Most of the supplies go to GHF, which operates four food distribution points inside Israeli military zones. A trickle of aid goes to the U.N. and humanitarian groups. Both systems are mired in chaos. Daily gunfire by Israeli troops toward crowds on the roads heading to the GHF centers has killed several hundred people and wounded hundreds more in past weeks, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Advertisement At the same time, in past weeks, hungry crowds overwhelm most of the U.N.'s truck convoys and strip away the supplies. Israeli troops have opened fire to disperse crowds waiting for trucks near military zones, witnesses say — and on Tuesday, more than 50 people were killed, according to the ministry. The Israeli military says it is investigating. 'I don't see how it can get any worse, because it is already apocalyptic. But somehow it does get worse,' said Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian affairs office. Israel says it has only fired warning shots at suspects who approached its forces along the roads to the GHF food centers. Palestinian witnesses say the troops fire to prevent crowds from moving past a certain point before the centers open or because people leave the road designated by the military. They describe heavy barrages from tanks, snipers, drones and even guns mounted on cranes. Asked how its soldiers control movement, the military told The Associated Press its 'operational conduct ... is accompanied by systematic learning processes.' It said it was looking into safety measures like fences and road signs. GHF says no shootings have taken place in or near its hubs. A spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity under GHF rules, said incidents take place before sites open involving aid-seekers who move 'during prohibited times ... or trying to take a short cut.' They said GHF is trying to improve safety, in part by changing opening times to daylight hours. Israel intends for GHF to replace the U.N.-led aid network in Gaza, contending that Hamas diverts large amounts of aid from it. The U.N. denies the claim. Advertisement Thousands of people must walk miles to reach the GHF centers, three of which are in the far south outside the city of Rafah. Palestinians said the danger begins when the crowds enter the Israeli military zone encompassing Rafah. Mohammed Saqer, a father of three who risked the trip multiple times, said that when he went last week, tanks were firing over the heads of the crowds as drone announcements told everyone to move back. It's 'like it was 'Squid Game,'' Saqer said, referring to the dystopian thriller TV series in which contestants risk their lives to win a prize. Just raising your head might mean death, he said. He and others crawled forward, then left the main road. A shot rang out nearby and they ducked, he said. They found a young man on the ground, shot in the back. The others assumed he was dead, but Saqer felt his chest — it was still warm, and he found a pulse. They carried him to a point where a car could pick him up. Saqer said he stood for a moment, traumatized by the scene. Then people shouted that the site had opened. Everyone broke into a crazed run, he said. He saw several people wounded on the ground. One man, bleeding from his abdomen, reached out his hand, pleading for help. No one stopped. 'Everyone is just running to get to the aid, to get there first,' Saqer said. Omar al-Hobi described the same scene the four times he went last week. Twice, he returned empty-handed; once, he managed to grab a pack of lentils. On the fourth day, he was determined to secure flour for his three children and pregnant wife. Advertisement He said he and others inched their way forward under tank fire. He saw several people shot in the legs. One man fell bleeding to the ground, apparently dead, he said. Horrified, al-Hobi froze, unable to move, 'but I remembered I have to feed my children.' He took cover in a greenhouse, then heard the announcement that the center was open and began to run. At the center, food boxes are stacked on the ground in an area surrounded by fences and earthen berms. Thousands rush in to grab what they can in a frantic melee. You have to move fast, Saqer said. Once supplies run out, some of those who came too late rob those leaving. He swiftly tore open a box and loaded the contents into a sack — juice, chickpeas, lentils, cheese, beans, flour and cooking oil. Then he took off running. There's only one route in and out of the center. But, knowing thieves waited outside, Saqer clambered over a berm, running the risk of being fired on by Israeli troops. 'It all depends on the soldiers' mood. If they are in a bad mood … they will shoot at me. If not, they will let me be,' he said. Heba Jouda said she saw a group of men beat up a boy of 12 or 13 years old and take his food as she left one of the Rafah centers. Another time, she said, thieves attacked an older man, who hugged his sack, weeping that his children had no food. They sliced his arm with a knife and ran off with the sack. Advertisement Al-Hobi said he was trampled in the scramble for boxes. He managed to grab a bag of rice, a packet of macaroni. He snagged flour — but much of it was ruined in the chaos. At his family tent outside Khan Younis, his wife, Anwaar Saleh, said she will ration it all to make it last a week or so. 'We hope he doesn't have to go back. His life is the most important thing,' she said. Al-Hobi remains shaken — both by his brushes with death and the callousness that the race for food has instilled in everyone. 'No one will show you mercy these days. Everybody fends for themselves.'

Los Angeles Times

4 hours ago

• Los Angeles Times

Israel hits an Iranian nuclear research facility and says it's preparing for a long war

TEL AVIV — Israel's military said Saturday it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks, while emphasizing it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war. Smoke rose from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where Isfahan province's deputy governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed the Israeli strikes damaged the facility but said they caused no casualties. The target was two centrifuge production sites, according to an Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters. It was the second attack on Isfahan, which was hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel's goal to destroy Iran's nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, confirmed the latest attack. Iran launched a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel but there were no immediate reports of significant damage. A Magen David Adom rescue service official said a drone hit a two-story building in northern Israel, with no casualties. The official called it a 'small barrage' that was largely intercepted by Israel's defenses. The official estimated that Israel's military has taken out more than half of Iran's launchers. 'We're making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,' he said. 'Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has capabilities.' The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, later said that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the army to be prepared for a 'prolonged campaign.' President Trump is weighing active U.S. military involvement in the war. On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, 'I think that it would be very, very dangerous for everyone.' He spoke on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey. Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs. Trump said he would put off his decision on direct military involvement for up to two weeks. The war erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran's nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. One Tehran resident, Nasrin, writhed in her hospital bed as she described how a blast threw her against a wall in her apartment. 'I've had five surgeries. I think I have nothing right here that is intact,' she said Saturday. Another resident, Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he had been making deliveries when 'something blew up right in front of me' at an intersection. Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Israel's multi-tiered air defenses have shot down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only nonnuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program, but has never acknowledged it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel's military operation will continue 'for as long as it takes' to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missile arsenal. Talks in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a breakthrough. European officials expressed hope for future discussions. Iran's foreign minister said he was open to further dialogue while emphasizing that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continues to attack. 'Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again, and once aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed,' he told reporters. No date was set for a new round of talks. For many Iranians, updates remained difficult. Internet-access advocacy group said Saturday that limited internet access had again 'collapsed.' A nationwide internet shutdown has been in place for several days. Israel's opening attack killed three of Iran's top military leaders: Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, who oversaw the armed forces; Gen. Hossein Salami, who led the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; and the head of the Revolutionary Guard's ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Israel's defense minister said Saturday the military has killed a Revolutionary Guard commander who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing 20-month war in the Gaza Strip. Iranian officials did not immediately confirm Saeed Izadi's death, but the Qom governor's office said there had been an attack on a four-story apartment building and local media reported two people had been killed. Israel also said it killed the commander of the Quds Force's weapons transfer unit, who it said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Behnam Shahriyari was killed while traveling in western Iran, the military said. Iranian leaders say IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi's statements about the status of Iran's nuclear program have prompted Israel's attack. On Saturday, a senior advisor for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, Ali Larijani, said in a social media post, without elaboration, that Iran would make Grossi 'pay' once the war is over. Grossi warned Friday at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. 'In case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,' Grossi said, adding: 'This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.' Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country's Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital. Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium — at lower levels — in recent talks over its nuclear program. But Trump, like Israel, has demanded Iran end its enrichment program altogether. Rising and Mednick write for the Associated Press and reported from Dubai and Tel Aviv, respectively. AP writers Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul, Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.

The Hill

5 hours ago

• The Hill

If he wages war unilaterally, Trump will only be the latest of many presidents to do so

Twenty-four years ago this week, I represented a group of bipartisan members of Congress in challenging the Obama administration's decision to attack Libya without a declaration of war. It is a curious anniversary of the litigation, because many of the politicians and pundits who supported (or remained silent on) the action of President Barack Obama are now appalled that President Trump is considering an attack on the Iranian nuclear facility at Fordow, which is buried deep in a mountain. Later, some Democratic members would move to expand presidential powers to launch attacks without approval. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the drafter of the current legislation to limit Trump's authority, drafted legislation in 2018 to put the authorization for use of military force on virtual autopilot. That was during the first Trump administration, and I testified against that legislation as a virtual authorization for 'endless war.' In 2011, Obama approved a massive military campaign that not only attacked Libya's capital city but also armored columns of the Libyan military. The clear intent was regime change supported by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also rejected the need to consult with Congress, let alone secure approval before launching a massive attack on another nation. Today, Trump is contemplating the use of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator or 'bunker buster' bomb, to destroy the facility. It may be the only weapon that can reach the underground enhancement areas, and it can only be delivered by American B-2 Spirit stealth bombers. It takes courage to oppose such actions by a president of your own party or against an unpopular foe. Notably, among my clients 24 years ago was Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), the father of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who also believes that a president should secure approval of Congress before any such attack occurs. The other group that would demand such approval was the Framers themselves. They saw foreign entanglements and military interventions as the markings of despots and tyrants. At the Constitutional Convention, delegate Pierce Butler insisted that a president should not be able to 'make war but when the nation will support it.' Nevertheless, he did not even receive a second to his motion because the Framers demanded real checks on this power. They imposed that limit by only allowing the nation to go to war with the express declaration of Congress. Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 states that the 'sole' authority to declare war rests with Congress. In 1793, George Washington supported the denial of this power to a president as a clear and binding promise that 'no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure.' The Framers thought that they had solved the problem. In the Pennsylvania ratification convention, James Wilson explained the need for congressional approval as a guarantee that no one will 'hurry us into war [since] it is calculated to guard against it.' The purpose of such approval is not just to limit foreign wars but to secure the support of the people before such wars are commenced. After all, presidents get the glory of wars, but citizens pay the cost in lives and treasure. Politicians, however, quickly became leery of taking such ownership over wars. Congress became increasingly passive in the face of popular military engagements, using ambiguous 'authorizations' to preserve the ability to later insist that they were never really in support of wars. While some of us opposed the Iraq War, politicians like then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) were all-in on the invasion. Yet, when he ran for president, Biden insisted that he had opposed the long, drawn-out war. Then there was Sen. John Kerry. During the Democratic primary in 2004, Kerry portrayed himself as against the Iraq War, even though he had also voted for it. Later, when confronted by George Bush in the general election over his vote against spending $87 billion to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, he offered his notorious response that 'I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it.' Despite the clear text of the Constitution, courts have repeatedly allowed this circumvention of Article I. Congress has only declared 11 wars while allowing more than 125 military operations, including Vietnam, Korea and Afghanistan. Congress has not declared war in the 80 years since World War II. In my case, the Obama administration would not even refer to an attack on another nation as a 'war.' It insisted that it was a 'time-limited, scope-limited military action,' or a 'kinetic action.' The court allowed the war to proceed. Both Congress and the courts have effectively amended the Constitution to remove the requirement of war declarations. As a result, the precedent favors Trump in arguing for his right to commit troops unilaterally. Whereas Kaine and others insist that there has been no attack by Iran on the U.S., Trump can cite the fact that Iran has killed or wounded thousands of Americans directly or through surrogates, including attacks on U.S. shipping through its Houthi proxy forces in Yemen. More importantly, he can cite decades of judicial and congressional acquiescence. For my part, I think the Framers were right then and they are right now. We have shown just how right they were with decades of undeclared wars and so little accountability. The fact that these actions are presumptively unconstitutional is an inconvenient fact buried in decades of war hype and hypocrisy. That is why Trump is unlikely to go to Congress and, as a matter of precedent, he does not have to. He will assume the same power his predecessors enjoyed, including recent Democratic presidents. With that history and politics on his side, Trump could turn Fordow into the most expensive hole in history. Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of 'The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.'