Libyan government

Libyan government forces have arrested four suspects responsible for kidnapping three Turkish workers in Libya, according to a local official. 

The Italian government yesterday (13 August) welcomed Libya’s decision to bar foreign vessels from a stretch of water off its coast,a move that has prompted almost all international charities to halt migrant search and rescue operations in the area.

The German aid group Sea Eye on Aug. 13 said it was suspending its migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean, citing security concerns after Libya barred foreign vessels from a stretch of water off its coast.

Since World War II, the Mediterranean Sea has been the home to the U.S.

Turkey delivered 22 tons of medicine and medical supplies to Libya on May 24, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said.

The U.S. military has officially ended operations in a former Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) bastion in Libya, officials announced Dec. 20.

The Pentagon had launched Operation Odyssey Lightning to help local forces push the jihadists from the coastal city of Sirte on Aug. 1.

"The EU must build a giant city for refugees on the Libyan coast in order to control the process of granting asylum to people from Africa before they reach Europe," stated Hungarian PM Viktor Orban at a meeting of 10 heads of state in Vienna on Saturday.

Two Serbian embassy staff members abducted in Libya in November are believed to have been killed on Feb. 19 in U.S. air strikes on a suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) training camp, Serbia's foreign minister said on Feb. 20.

The UN Security Council is considering allowing European naval forces to board and search ships on the high seas in an effort combat the smuggling of migrants, diplomats said on Sept.9.

The Arab League called Aug. 18 for an "urgent" Arab strategy to militarily back Libya's government against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), but stopped short of endorsing air strikes against the jihadists.