Gazzini: Rome talks show Libya’s rivals in open game

Claudia Gazzini, Senior Analyst at the International Crisis Group, has commented on the recent meeting in the Italian capital between Saddam Haftar and Ibrahim Dbeibah, describing it as part of an increasingly open political game between rival camps in eastern and western Libya.

According to Gazzini, the Rome meeting is not an isolated event but part of a longer series of contacts among Libyan actors. She noted that Saddam Haftar and Dbeibah have been in dialogue for the past two years, though their relationship has oscillated between cooperation and rivalry.

The talks in Rome took place at a time when Italy is seeking to reassert itself as a key mediator in the Libyan crisis, balancing its interests in energy, security and migration with the need to maintain relations with both eastern and western factions.

The encounter brought face to face two figures at the heart of Libya’s fragile balance of power: Saddam Haftar, newly elevated to deputy commander within his father’s Libyan National Army, and Ibrahim Dbeibah, the politically ambitious nephew of Tripoli’s interim prime minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah. Their meeting underscored how the rivalry between east and west is increasingly playing out through a mix of dialogue and manoeuvring, rather than open confrontation.

Gazzini observed that both camps are undergoing rapid transformations. In the east, the Libyan National Army has reshuffled its leadership, appointing Saddam Haftar as deputy to his father and his brother Khaled as Chief of Staff. In the west, uncertainty persists over the stability of alliances, with fears of renewed clashes between forces aligned with Dbeibah and rival militias.

She stressed that such meetings are less about producing immediate breakthroughs and more about manoeuvring within Libya’s protracted contest for power, where shifting alliances, international mediation and internal rivalries continue to shape the political landscape.