Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani visited the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Sunday and met with Saddam Haftar, the son of Libyan General Khalifa Haftar, who commands the self-styled “Libyan Arab Armed Forces”.
The meeting reportedly discussed the issue of Syrian nationals missing in Libya, as well as strengthening security cooperation and opening a new Syrian consulate in Benghazi.
Al-Shaibani was accompanied by Abdul Qader Tahan, the director of Syrian intelligence, on his visit.
This is Shaibani’s second visit to Libya in less than two months. In late August, Shaibani visited the Libyan capital Tripoli and reopened the Syrian embassy there.
Libya is currently split between two rival administrations – an internationally recognised government which controls Tripoli and the west of the country and one close to Khalifa Haftar which controls Benghazi and most of the east and the south.
An estimated 16,000 Syrians are believed to live in Libya. Thousands of them, however, have tried to travel across the Mediterranean to reach Europe, making an extremely dangerous journey, and many have gone missing as a result.
Many Syrians are also believed to be held in Libya’s migrant detention centres, where detainees are subjected to torture and abuse.
“Dozens, perhaps hundreds of Syrians have gone missing in Libya. These, in most cases, have attempted to reach Europe through Libya. It’s a testimony to the disastrous situation in Libya that Syrians and many others – many sub-Saharan Africans – are being arrested and detained and tortured and sometimes killed by various militias,” Syrian author Robin Yassin-Kassab told The New Arab.
Libyan authorities in both the east and west of the country have received support from the EU for their efforts to stop migration to Europe.
This has been condemned as “shameful” by human rights organisations including Amnesty International, given the torture, ill-treatment, and even killing to which migrants and refugees are subjected.
“The EU is turning a blind eye to this or even encouraging it by paying the Libyan government and others to keep refugees in Libya,” Yassin-Kassab said.
The issue of Syrians missing in Libya has returned to the spotlight in recent weeks, with families desperately seeking news of their loved ones and calling on Syrian authorities to do more to find out about their fate.
Last month, the families of around 200 Libyans missing in Syria protested outside the foreign ministry in Damascus, calling for information about their relatives, Arab News reported.
Although Yassin-Kassab condemned the Haftar-led administration’s violations against migrants and refugees, he welcomed Shaibani’s meeting with them.
“It’s a good thing that Shaibani is going to Benghazi to talk to the Haftar dictatorship about [the issue of missing Syrians] because they are responsible for the detentions of lots of Syrians, including apparently Syrians who are legally residing in Libya,” he said.
Yassin-Kassab said that Syrians in the Haftar-controlled parts of Libya had been detained simply for celebrating the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.
Haftar is closely allied to the Assad regime’s former key benefactor, Russia, and had established cordial relations with the Assad regime before its fall.