Almost 1,000 refugees and migrants have been intercepted at sea and returned to war-ravaged Libya this year already, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Libyan coast guards found more than 150 migrants in national waters and brought them back to the shore, the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration said Thursday.

Libya’s navy said Saturday it had rescued 205 migrants in an operation off the coast of Tripoli. The rescue took place on Friday, with 158 men, 33 women and 14 children taken from three inflatable boats off the coast of Zawiyah, 45 kilometres west of the capital, a navy statement …

On 11 November 2019, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch submitted a joint third-party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights in a case involving Libya’s abuses against migrants during operations at sea and upon return to the country in November 2017. 

The Libyan embassy in Valetta has refuted news about striking a secret deal with Malta on migrants’ interception.

Malta’s armed forces have started cooperating with Libya’s coastguard to turn back migrant boats heading into Malta’s search and rescue zone, Times of Malta newspaper reported on Sunday, citing a secret government deal.

On October 4, Italian newspaper L’Avvenire revealed that the Italian government was working closely with Abd al-Rahman “Bija” Milad, the head of Libya’s infamous Zawiyah coastguard, to stem the flow of refugees from the porous Libyan coast.

A deal to restrict the arrival of migrants and refugees into Italy from Libya has renewed automatically on Saturday. The MoU, signed in February 2017 by Italy and the UN-recognised Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez al-Sarraj, set out a framework for the two countries to work together …

Libya’s coast guard said it had intercepted 200 Europe-bound migrants, including seven women and three children, off the country’s Mediterranean coast.

Libyan Coast Guard has rescued 53 illegal immigrants aboard a rubber boat, about 75 northwest of Abu Kammash district.