A secret meeting was held in Rome on September 3, 2025, where Saddam Haftar and Ibrahim Dbeibah met face to face for the first time, with Massad Boulos acting as mediator.
Another meeting between Libyan factions was held in Paris in January 2026, mediated by Massad Boulos, as part of the ongoing negotiations.
The Central Bank of Libya announced that the House of Representatives and the High Council of State approved the first unified budget in over 13 years.
Exercise Flintlock, a joint military exercise under AFRICOM, took place in Libya for the first time in history, in the port city of Sirte, in April 2026.
Armed clashes involving heavy weapons occurred near the Zawiya oil refinery on May 8-9, 2026, resulting in deaths, injuries, and the evacuation of over 80 people by the Red Crescent.
On June 18, the High Council of State, House of Representatives, and Presidential Council agreed on a roadmap calling for simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections by February 17, 2027.
I officially back the US initiative to unify Libya's institutions and executive authorities, as it offers an opportunity to accelerate political solutions that end the current state of division.
Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of the al-Watan Party, issued a statement officially backing the US initiative to unify Libya's institutions, calling on the GNU to state its position.
Belhaj's endorsement of the US initiative is a 'leap in the air' that will not significantly affect the balance of power, and several HoR members privately told me their names were added to the list of supporters without their knowledge.
The US initiative is closer to a deal than an initiative, designed around specific individuals, and risks entrenching a power-sharing arrangement rather than paving the way for democracy.
Despite fears of a dictatorial relapse or family rule, the current political deadlock necessitates taking calculated risks, and the majority view is that there should be positive engagement with Boulos's initiative, which must be merged with the existing UN roadmap and bound by strict timelines leading to elections.
The US initiative is illegal and outside the framework of the Libyan Political Agreement, and we reject it as a threat to our existence.
Libya is currently moving between two possibilities: reaching a new political settlement, or rearranging the balance of power between the different parties.
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