An armed group from Awaqir tribe in eastern Libya mobilized fighters and gunmen in Benina and Al-Rajma in southeast Benghazi after Khalifa Haftar’s forces had detained tribal senior leader Khalid Bulaghib at Benina airport.

The president of Libya’s newly elected interim government arrived Thursday in the eastern city of Benghazi, the stronghold of the divided country’s eastern factions, as part of a campaign to foster unity ahead of national elections in December.

Misrata International Airport will begin resuming passenger flights to Benina Airport in Benghazi, after a 6-year hiatus.

The commander of Awliaa Al-Dam (Blood Avengers) of Khalifa Haftar’s forces, Eyad Al-Fessi, admitted on Facebook, in live video Sunday after his son escaped a kidnap attempt, that Benghazi and the entire eastern region are “seeing a lack of security and lawlessness”.

The National Commission for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL) condemned the extrajudicial killings and kidnappings in the city of Benghazi and the continued inaction by those in power.

After languishing in Libyan prisons, the crews of two Italian fishing boats seized by the Libyan coast guard in September were released just before Christmas. Back home, they tell DW’s Jacopo Lentini of their ordeal.

The release of the Sicilian fishermen in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi has taken place in exchange for restoring relations with the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Khalifa Haftar, the Italian foreign minister announced yesterday.

From her home in Benghazi, Khadija proudly shows her son Alaa’s red football shirt, holding it with both hands. Then she stands up, and heads towards his bedroom.

Libya’s internationally recognized parliament, the House of Representatives (HoR), based in Benghazi, is to prepare an alternative political roadmap to that being worked on by the UNSMIL-brokered Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF).

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said yesterday that the Italian fishermen arrested by eastern Libyan patrol boats had been released.