Mahmoud calls on the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene urgently to evacuate the students who wish to return to Egypt, as was done for the athletes who were already brought back before the situation worsened, adding: “We fear that things will get out of control, especially with the escalation of the demonstrations demanding the departure of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s government, which have already seen people killed.”<\/p>\n Armed clashes<\/a> broke out in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, last Monday, between the forces of the “444 Combat Brigade”, affiliated with the Ministry of Interior of the Government of National Unity, and the forces of the “Deterrence Apparatus” led by Abdel Raouf Kara, affiliated with the Presidential Council since 2018. The confrontations erupted one day after the killing of field commander Abdel Ghani Al-Kikli, known as “Ghaniwa”, during an official meeting at the headquarters of the “444 Brigade”.<\/p>\n Over two days, the pace of violence escalated in an unprecedented way, and local media reported the resignation of seven ministers from the Government of National Unity in Tripoli. On Friday evening, the city witnessed a bloody night, during which militias loyal to Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s government fired live ammunition at demonstrators demanding his departure, and attempts to run them over with military vehicles were also observed.<\/p>\n According to a statement issued by the National Institution for Human Rights in Libya, the confrontations resulted in 53 civilian victims, including two citizens from Egypt and Nigeria, as well as four Libyan women, and ten charred bodies whose identities have not been determined were also found. Injuries of varying severity were also recorded among 40 people, some of whom were transferred to intensive care at public and private health facilities, while 20 people have been listed as missing since 12 to 14 May 2025.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Recommended reading: Egypt’s Expatriate Students: <\/b>Dreams Lost in Ukraine, Adrift in Sudan<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n At two in the morning, after midnight on Wednesday, <\/span>Hany Saeed, <\/b>who studies in the petroleum engineering department at one of the private universities in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, was asleep in his room in the student residence in the Al-Siraj area when he was woken by the sound of a volley of gunfire, followed by the sound of breaking glass and screaming. He ran quickly towards the source of the sound, to discover that his two residence mates, “Ahmed” and “Khaled”, who live in the room overlooking the street, had been injured after bullets pierced their room window and smashed the glass, and shards of it penetrated their arms, causing them cuts that led to bleeding lasting 8 hours, until their colleagues managed to bring a Libyan doctor to the residence, who stitched their wounds, after the Red Crescent, which the students had called asking for help, let them down, as Hany tells Zawia3.<\/span><\/p>\n He says: “We called the Egyptian embassy in Libya when the injury happened, and the employee told us that as long as no one had died it was fine, and that we had to wait until the airport opened, and then whoever wished to return to Egypt would be able to leave, because evacuation at the present time poses a danger to our lives. When we contacted the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the official told us that the clashes had subsided, but we are terrified here and we want to return to Egypt before a disaster befalls us. We tried to send out appeals for help through social media, but we received threats from people loyal to the militias.”<\/span><\/p>\n He adds: “Most foreign embassies have evacuated their nationals from Tripoli, except the Egyptian embassy, which rushed to evacuate the football players and left the rest of the Egyptians. Even the Turkish embassy evacuated all its nationals on Friday morning, despite being the main backer of the militias, and this warns that a disaster is going to happen. Even among the Libyans who live in Tripoli, large numbers have fled to places outside Tripoli and left their homes.”<\/span><\/p>\n The evacuation plan was based on moving the Egyptian athletes to the relatively safe Libyan city of Misrata, as it is far from the epicentre of the clashes in Tripoli, and then flying them back to Egypt. By the evening of 14 May 2025, the first group of the Egyptian sports delegation had arrived safely at Cairo International Airport, led by coach Hossam El-Badry, technical director of Al-Ahly Tripoli<\/em>. This group included the members of the Egyptian technical staff who were in Misrata, namely Hossam El-Badry himself and his assistants Hady Khashaba, Ahmed Ayoub and Hady El-Saeed. The group boarded a private plane from Misrata airport to Cairo, where it arrived at exactly eleven o’clock at night (Cairo time) on Wednesday, 14 May.<\/p>\n The second group comprised the rest of the Egyptian athletes who were still in Tripoli at the time, who were scheduled to be moved by land from the capital to Misrata under full protection and security in preparation for their return by air to Cairo. This group consisted of approximately five people, headed by Al-Ahly’s loaned-out star Mahmoud Abdel Moneim “Kahraba” (currently a player for Libya’s Al-Ittihad club).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/span>It also included Ahmed Esmat (fitness coach at Libya’s Al-Madina club), who was one of those who issued calls for help, and Ahmed Shafik (volleyball player at Libya’s Al-Swehly club). By 15 May, the evacuation of this second group and their return to the homeland had been completed. In this way, the Egyptian authorities succeeded in bringing back all of their nationals among the athletes who had been in danger zones in Libya within a few days of the outbreak of the crisis.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n The university student explains that classes have stopped for the time being and that one of the universities was targeted, and at the same time there are hundreds of Egyptian students living in the areas of Abu Salim, Al-Siraj, Salah Al-Din, the Damascus district and Al-Jumhuriya Street in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, because of their proximity to the universities where they study; however, these have become unsafe areas because of the clashes and the current security tensions. He states that many students feel their lives are in danger, as an Egyptian student studying dentistry at the private Al-Tahaddi University was subjected to armed robbery and an attack with a bladed weapon, and that even before the clashes broke out, students were afraid to leave their homes during the night hours because of gunmen who kidnap people and demand ransom money.<\/span><\/p>\n Mitiga Airport, the main air gateway of the capital, Tripoli, which serves thousands of travellers daily, had been closed<\/a> as a result of the deteriorating security situation in the area around it since the outbreak of the recent events, but flights resumed<\/a> at the airport from ten o’clock on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Defence of the Libyan Government of National Unity had earlier announced, on Tuesday morning, that the military operation in Tripoli had ended successfully, but armed clashes resumed in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a number of districts in the city centre and in its southern and eastern areas. On the same day, the ministry announced the start of implementing a ceasefire<\/a> on all fronts of tension inside the capital, and the Libyan Presidential Council issued a decision<\/a> for a comprehensive ceasefire in Tripoli and the freezing of the Government of National Unity’s decisions of a military and security nature, so that a cautious calm settled over the Libyan capital, which was shattered by clashes between a number of demonstrators and security forces at the Prime Ministry building last Friday evening.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Recommended reading: <\/b>Are Egyptian Universities Preparing for a Future Without Postgraduate Students?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n The parents of Egyptian male and female students at the universities of Tripoli, Africa and Al-Rifaq and the private Al-Tahaddi Medical University (who had been tempted by the relatively stable conditions before them into university study in the Libyan capital) found no solution other than resorting to social media in an attempt to make their sons’ and daughters’ voices heard, and to appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the relevant authorities to intervene to evacuate them from Libya and return them to Egypt, out of fear for their safety, demanding that transfer to Egyptian universities be opened to Egyptian students in Libya, as with their colleagues who returned from Russia, Ukraine and Sudan.<\/span><\/p>\n Zawia3 received appeals for help from many families, among them the mothers of student Zahraa Ayman and her maternal cousin, student Omar Walid, who are both studying in the first year of the Faculty of Dentistry at the private Al-Tahaddi Medical University in Tripoli. The two mothers spoke to Zawia3, documenting chapters of the suffering endured by 11 male and 5 female students, all of them Egyptians from various governorates, inside their student residence in the Libyan capital since the clashes broke out last week; <\/span>Shereen Ibrahim<\/b>, the mother of student Omar Walid, whom we contacted on Friday, tells Zawia3 that she lost contact with her son and her sister’s son after the power and the internet network were cut in Tripoli, and that before the outage the two had confirmed to her that they had run out of food and water, and that the students were trapped in the house amid the clashes. She denounces the fact that the Egyptian athletes alone were evacuated from Libya, demanding that the students be returned to Egypt and enrolled in Egyptian universities, especially since their university was stormed by armed men and military vehicles were stationed there on Sunday evening, amid a halt to classes.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, <\/span>Shaimaa Ibrahim,<\/b> Zahraa’s mother, tells Zawia3: “When we called Zahraa and Omar on Monday morning, there were sounds of gunfire coming from far away, and they were told it was military exercises, so the students paid no attention to it. But by the evening the two of them called me and my sister, screaming and in a state of nervous breakdown because of the sounds of the violent clashes around them, and because a sniper had climbed onto the roof of the student residence, located in the Al-Sidra district, and come down the stairs, amid a state of terror felt by our children. The clashes and tensions continued for three days, so they could not go out to buy food or water, and they were forced to drink salty water, and after that the power and the internet network were cut during the evening hours until dawn.”<\/span><\/p>\n The mother adds: “Fear drove the children to stay at home even though the clashes had stopped, so they lived on a little cheese, bread and canned tuna until their food and water ran out. Their money is about to run out and they cannot receive any money transfers from their families in the current security conditions. On Friday evening, gunfire resumed around them, so they were forced to lie flat on the floor inside the living room for fear the bullets would reach them, and Egyptian students in another residence were injured. When our children contacted the Egyptian embassy, they told them to stay at home, and we fear that harm will befall them.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On Saturday, the Souq al-Juma municipality in Tripoli issued a call<\/a> for civil disobedience, demanding a halt to work at all public institutions and administrations and calling on the rest of the cities to join the popular movement, in protest at the killing of citizens by the bullets of forces loyal to Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s government, and to demand its departure. The municipalities of Zawiya, Tajoura and Warshefana joined it in the call in solidarity, calling for mass demonstrations in Martyrs’ Square and various areas of Tripoli against the Dbeibah government, while the Zawiya youth movement called for a move towards the capital, with the support of the cities of the western coast, with the aim of toppling the government.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Arab media outlets<\/a> reported that a number of roads had been closed in Tripoli, that shops had shut their doors in most districts of Souq al-Juma, and that a number of commercial bank branches had not started work that day, among them “Al-Wahda”, “Al-Mutawassit” and the “Bank of Commerce and Development”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Recommended reading: <\/b>Amid Rubble, Bombardment and Hunger: Egyptians Stranded in Gaza for a Year and a Half<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n In September last year, <\/span>Mohamed El-Shabrawy<\/b> travelled to Libya via the land border crossings, after paying a sum of around EGP 40,000 to brokerage and labour supply offices, to work at a food company, having despaired of finding a job that would bring him enough income to provide a decent life for his family after he lost his job in one of the Gulf states. The company he works for allocated him housing with a number of Egyptian and Sudanese workers in the Abu Salim area of Tripoli, but last Monday they were surprised by heavy gunfire and violent clashes with heavy weapons taking place in the streets around the residence.<\/span><\/p>\n Mohamed and his colleagues were terrified and thought they would be killed in the street war, even though they were hiding inside the residence. When they turned to the management of the company they work for, it provided them with other housing in the Al-Siraj area of Tripoli, as it is relatively far from the areas of the clashes, and Libyan citizens helped them leave the residence and move to the Al-Siraj area amid a violent atmosphere and a breakdown of security.<\/span><\/p>\n He tells Zawia3:<\/span><\/p>\n “We were living in the Abu Salim area, the stronghold controlled by Abdel Ghani Al-Kikli and his forces, from where the clashes with heavy weapons started, and we were not safe inside the residence, as there are civilians who were injured or killed inside their homes after shells hit them by mistake. When we moved to the Al-Siraj area, we started hearing the sounds of explosions from a distance, and although the clashes stopped after about two days, the situation is not stable, coinciding with the demonstrations in Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli demanding the resignation of the national government.”<\/span><\/p>\n Mohamed calls on the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to pay attention to the conditions of Egyptian workers in Libya as it paid attention to the Egyptian athletes and brought them back to Egypt, explaining that he and many Egyptian workers face the problem of company managements taking their passports as a guarantee in case they breach the financial agreements or squander assets entrusted to them by the companies, in addition to the fact that most of the Egyptian workers who entered Libya via the land crossings are not granted legal residence inside the country, so their fates are left hanging in the hands of employers.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The same state of terror is being lived by <\/span>Reda Khaled, <\/b>an Egyptian worker at a private electricity company, who lives in the Abu Salim area of Tripoli, in workers’ housing with a number of Egyptian and Sudanese workers; they found themselves trapped amid the violent clashes for two days, which made them hide inside the residence, but by the end of the second day their food supplies had run out, and hunger drove them to go out in search of food to buy, but the neighbourhood looked as if it were haunted by ghosts.<\/span><\/p>\n He tells Zawia3:<\/span><\/p>\n “We were hungry and had not eaten anything last Wednesday, and when we went out to buy food all the shops and bakeries were closed. A Libyan neighbour took pity on us and gave us food from her home. After the clashes with heavy weapons stopped, there were demonstrations in Martyrs’ Square, but on Friday evening violence broke out and the internet network was cut, so we lost contact with the outside world and heard the sounds of gunfire around us in the Abu Salim area, and we spent the night in our homes feeling terrified.”<\/span><\/p>\n Reda shares the view of Mohamed, who believes that the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not given the Egyptian workers in Libya the same attention it gave to the safety of the Egyptian athletes, whom it brought back to Egypt with all speed; however, unlike Mohamed, he wants to take his time over the decision to return to Egypt, hoping that the unrest in Tripoli will calm down, as he is bound by financial obligations related to preparations for his marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n An Egyptian worker died on 14 May of this month from injuries sustained when a shell fell on the coastal city of Janzour, north-west Libya, in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, as confirmed by Ali El-Sayed, the representative of the Egyptian community in Libya and representative of the General Union of Egyptians Abroad, in media statements<\/a>. According to a source from the Egyptian community in Libya who spoke to Zawia3, an Egyptian worker named Alaa Adel El-Gazzar was killed after being hit by live ammunition near the former iron bridge while working on the Third Ring Road project in Tripoli.<\/p>\n According to estimates<\/a> by the International Organization for Migration for 2022, there are 144,543 Egyptian migrants in Libya, representing 21% of the total number of migrants in the country and the second-largest share among all nationalities after Nigerians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Recommended reading: <\/b>Migration Dreams: Dangerous Routes Travelled by Children from the Egyptian Countryside<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/IMG-20250518-WA0097.jpg\")
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Egyptian Students Injured<\/b><\/h1>\n
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Students’ Families Appeal for Help<\/b><\/h1>\n
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Egyptian Workers in the Line of Fire<\/b><\/h1>\n
An Operations Room Is Formed<\/b><\/h1>\n