France, UK involved in assassination of Muammar Gaddafi's son: Reports

France and the United Kingdom are reportedly involved in the assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the prominent son of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, as he was seen as the man who could reunite Libya after the NATO-backed uprising.

Saif al-Islam was killed by unknown gunmen who stormed his home in the town of Zintan on Tuesday.

Gaddafi’s political team said in a statement that “four masked men” killed him in a “cowardly and treacherous assassination,” adding that he tried to fight off the assailants, who shut off the security cameras at the house “in a desperate attempt to conceal traces of their heinous crimes.”

“Our sources on the ground in Libya told us that they suspect that British intelligence used local proxies to assassinate the man seen by many as the one who could reunite Libya, 15 years after NATO bombed Libya into a failed state during their campaign to kill Muammar Gaddafi,” said British broadcaster and former Press TV presenter Afshin Rattansi. 

He also hinted at France's involvement in the assassination, saying “We also know that France has deep motives in Libya, we know from Wikileaks cables that France wanted a ‘greater share in Libya’s oil production’ in 2011, and [former President Nicolas] Sarkozy was negotiating to reserve as much as 35% of Libya’s oil production.”

According to his remarks, Saif al-Islam was seen by many as “the most likely candidate to win any Presidential election” and unite the country after years of instability, especially as he had support from tribes that originally fought against his father in 2011.

“Watch now as the US, UK, and France start to steamroll ahead with the long-delayed elections in Libya, now that the one leading candidate who would have united Libya, and not followed their orders to allow Libya to be a de facto colony that is perpetually looted for its oil reserves, is now dead.”

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service’s (SVR) press bureau noted that Saif al-Islam’s assassination came as France has reportedly been preparing “neo-colonial coups d’etat” in Africa and seeking opportunities for "political revenge" on the continent.

The report said the influence of the former colonial power in African countries is waning, as they refused “to serve as puppets of the financial and political oligarchy of French globalists.”

"Whether inspired by the American operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or imagining himself as the arbiter of the fate of African peoples, [French President Emmanuel] Macron has authorized his special services to launch a plan to eliminate 'undesirable leaders' in Africa," the SVR press bureau added.

Son of former Libyan ruler Gaddafi killed in ‘home attack’: Aides

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, is killed in Libya, according to his political team and local media.

Libya has been struggling for stability since 2011, when the country’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in a NATO-backed uprising.

According to the Cradle, intelligence from foreign countries, including the United Kingdom, organized an army led by members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) to overthrow the Libyan regime.

The al-Qaeda-linked LIFG, which was formed to fight alongside Osama bin Laden’s “Afghan Arabs” in Afghanistan in the 1980’s, took control of the capital Tripoli and toppled the government.

After the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his hometown fell under the control of Libya’s branch of Daesh terrorist group, serving as its most significant base outside of West Asia, while the country descended into civil war and chaos.

Saif al-Islam, his father’s close advisor from 2000 until 2011, was captured and imprisoned in Zintan in 2011 after trying to flee the North African country following his father’s death.

He was freed in 2017 as part of a general pardon and had lived in Zintan since.

According to the SVR, France was also involved in the attempted coup against Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traore, whose government distanced itself from Paris since the fall of then-Interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba in the 2022 coup, last month.

"Our intelligence services intercepted this operation in the final hours. They had planned to assassinate the head of state and then strike other key institutions, including civilian personalities," Burkina Faso security minister Mahamadou Sana stated.

Traore also helped to found the Alliance of Sahel States, comprising Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

The SVR added that France was also seeking to destabilize the governments of Mali, the Central African Republic, and Madagascar.

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