Protests have erupted in Libya after Israel said its foreign minister had met with his Libyan counterpart in spite of the two countries having no formal diplomatic links.
Libyan media reported this on Monday.
Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibeh suspended Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush after she met with Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen, news portal al-Wasat Gate reported.
Meanwhile, the Libyan Foreign Ministry denied Mangoush had held formal talks with Cohen and said the meeting in Rome was a casual, non-official, and previously unprepared meeting.
In an online statement, the ministry said it fully and categorically rejected any normalisation of relations with Israel.
Under a 1957 Libyan law, dealing with Israel is punishable by law, by up to nine years in prison.
The Libyan news site Al-Wasat reported on Monday, citing security circles that the foreign minister had meanwhile flown to Turkey on a government plane.
The source added that the minister left the airport with the help of the Internal Security Agency.
The parliament based in eastern Libya called for an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss what it termed as the “legal and ethical crime against the Libyan people,’’ referring to the reported encounter.
Protesters reportedly set fire to the residence of Dbeibeh and called for his resignation on Sunday night.
It was not immediately clear if Dbeibeh was at the residence.
Libya has been in turmoil since the overthrow of Dictator Moamer Gaddafi in 2011.
Countless militias are still fighting for power and influence in the oil-rich country.
The conflict is further fuelled by foreign states.
Currently, two rival governments are fighting for power in the country.
All diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict peacefully have failed so far.
The Syrian government said Aleppo’s airport in northern Syria was put out of service by an Israeli airstrike at dawn, state media and monitor group said on Monday.
The Syrian General Authority of Civil Aviation said because of the Israeli aggression that targeted Aleppo International Airport at dawn, “the airport is now out of service and all scheduled flights were diverted to Damascus and Latakia airports.’’
The Civil Authority said its technical teams and engineers have begun inspection of “the damage at the airport runway and started to remove the effects of the aggression in preparation for its repair.’’
The state-run Syrian News agency (SANA), citing a military source said “at approximately 4:30 a.m. Monday, the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International Airport, causing damage to its runway”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor that has been documenting violence in Syrian since the war that started in 2011, said the Israelis also targeted weapons depots belonging to pro-Iranian militias at the Nairab military airport, which is part of Aleppo airport.
No casualties were reported so far.
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