\n Seif al-Islam, the son of Libya's slain longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi and once seen by some as his likely heir, has been killed.\n<\/p>\n
\n Targeted by a warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, and still a player in Libya's turbulent political scene, the 53-year-old was no stranger to violence.\n<\/p>\n
\n But his sudden assassination has raised many questions:\n<\/p>\n
\n - Who is behind it? -\n<\/p>\n
\n Very little has emerged about the identity or motives of the assailants.\n<\/p>\n
\n Seif's lawyer, Marcel Ceccaldi, told AFP he was killed by an unidentified \"four-man commando\" who stormed his house on Tuesday afternoon in the city of Zintan, western Libya.\n<\/p>\n
\n His adviser, Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim, told Libyan media the four unidentified men had stormed the home before \"disabling surveillance cameras, then executed him\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Libyan prosecutors said Wednesday they were probing the killing after establishing that \"the victim died from wounds by gunfire\".\n<\/p>\n
\n - Why now? -\n<\/p>\n
\n Claudia Gazzini, a senior Libya analyst at International Crisis Group, described the timing of Seif's death as \"odd\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He had been living a relatively quiet life away from the public eye for many years now,\" she told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n Seif had announced his bid to run for president in 2021. Those elections were indefinitely postponed, and he had barely made any major public appearances since.\n<\/p>\n
\n His whereabouts had been largely unknown. Aside from a small inner circle -- and probably the Libyan authorities -- few people knew he lived in Zintan.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ceccaldi said \"he often moved around\" but \"had been in Zintan for quite some time\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Anas El Gomati, head of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute think tank, said the timing was \"stark\".\n<\/p>\n
\n His death came just \"48 hours after a US-brokered Paris meeting between Saddam Haftar and Ibrahim Dbeibah\", respectively the son of eastern Libya's military strongman Khalifa Hafter and the nephew of the Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.\n<\/p>\n
\n Libya has remained divided between the UN-backed Tripoli government and its rival administration in the east.\n<\/p>\n
\n - What Seif al-Islam represented -\n<\/p>\n
\n Experts differ over the extent of Seif's political influence. But there is broad agreement on his symbolic weight as the most prominent remaining figure associated with pre-2011 Libya.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Seif had become a cumbersome actor\" in Libyan politics after announcing his bid for office in 2021, said Hasni Abidi, director of the Geneva-based Centre for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World.\n<\/p>\n
\n His killing \"benefits all political actors\" currently competing for power in the North African country, Abidi said.\n<\/p>\n
\n For Gomati, his death \"eliminates Libya's last viable spoiler to the current power structure\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He wasn't a democrat or reformer, but he represented an alternative that threatened both Haftar and Dbeibah,\" Gomati added. \"His removal consolidates their duopoly ... The pro-Gaddafi nostalgia bloc now has no credible leader.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Libya expert Jalel Harchaoui offered a more cautious assessment, saying Seif's death was \"no major upheaval\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He was not at the head of a unified, cohesive bloc exerting real weight in the competition for power, rivalries, or the allocation of territory or wealth,\" Harchaoui explained.\n<\/p>\n
\n Still, \"he could have played a decisive role under specific circumstances\", Harchaoui said, arguing that his mere name on a presidential ballot would have had a substantial impact.\n<\/p>\n
\n - How has the public reacted? -\n<\/p>\n
\n Among the public, speculation is rife.\n<\/p>\n
\n Some have suggested the involvement of a local Zintan-based armed group that may no longer have wanted Seif on its territory.\n<\/p>\n
\n Others suspect foreign forces may have been involved.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The operation's sophistication -- four operatives, inside access, cameras disabled -- suggests foreign intelligence involvement, not militia action,\" said Gomati.\n<\/p>\n
\n burs-iba-bou\/dc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seif al-Islam, the son of Libya's slain longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi and once seen by some as his likely heir, has been killed. Targeted by a warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, and still a player in Libya's turbulent political scene, the 53-year-old was no stranger to violence. But his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-155071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n