The Fact-Finding and Documentation Department of the National Institution for Human Rights in Libya monitored the incident of two security personnel, Al-Taher Hadiya and Ali Al-Benini, along with an irregular immigrant of an African nationality, being directly targeted by a drone belonging to the Libyan Ministry of Defense, at dawn on Thursday, January 1, 2026, at exactly twelve-thirty at night.
The aerial bombardment resulted in their deaths while they were performing their security duties in Dahab Al-Ajailat and Sabratha, specifically near the site of the former Tunisian company headquarters. The two victims belong to the Directorate Support Force in the Western Region, Al-Ajailat Office, according to information received by the institution’s Investigation Department.
In this context, the National Institution for Human Rights in Libya expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the repeated air strikes targeting civilian and security facilities and targets in the cities of Zawiya, Zuwara and Sabratha, which are carried out by the Ministry of Defense of the Government of National Unity without announcing them, in an attempt to evade legal responsibility. The Foundation notes that these operations, over the past year and the beginning of this year, resulted in dozens of casualties and injuries as a result of the use of drones, which represents a serious violation of the rules and provisions of international humanitarian law, especially with regard to the principles of proportionality and distinction during military air operations.
The Foundation called on the offices of the Public Prosecutor and the Military Prosecutor to open a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances of the incident, reveal its circumstances, and ensure that those responsible are prosecuted and brought to justice, while ensuring the right of the families of the victims and those affected to access justice and the right to litigation, in a way that contributes to ending the state of impunity for crimes and grave violations committed against human rights and international humanitarian law, and the right to life, personal safety and security.
The National Institution for Human Rights in Libya also announced its intention to refer a comprehensive report, attached with all the forensic evidence, information and evidence related to the aerial bombardment by drones of the Ministry of Defense of the Government of National Unity, to the investigation team for Libya in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and to the group of international experts and the Sanctions Committee for Libya in the UN Security Council, as well as to the Office of the Special Rapporteur on War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
This comes within the framework of its continuing efforts to monitor, document and follow up on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law on Libyan territory.
