Libya was plunged into fresh shock and uncertainty on Tuesday after Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the most powerful surviving symbol of the fallen Gaddafi dynasty, was brutally killed in his home in the western town of Zintan.
The 53-year-old son of former Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi was reportedly gunned down by masked assailants who stormed his residence in what his political team described as a “cowardly and treacherous assassination.”
Confirmation of his death came from his lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, and political adviser, Abdulla Othman, who announced the killing in separate social media posts, setting off a storm of reactions across Libya’s volatile political landscape.
Local media reports said four armed men attacked Gaddafi inside his house, disabled security cameras, and carried out what appeared to be a carefully planned hit. His aides claimed he confronted the attackers before he was fatally shot.
The killing has reignited fears of renewed violence in a country still scarred by years of conflict and division. Former High State Council head Khaled al-Mishri called for an urgent and transparent investigation, as speculation swirled over who ordered the assassination — and what it means for Libya’s fragile future.
Once groomed as his father’s successor, Saif al-Islam was the public face of the Gaddafi regime’s outreach to the West, playing a key role in abandoning weapons of mass destruction and negotiating compensation over the Lockerbie bombing.
But his image as a reformer collapsed during the 2011 uprising, when he became a fierce defender of the regime, threatening protesters with “rivers of blood” and vowing that the Gaddafi family would fight to the last bullet.
After Muammar Gaddafi’s violent death and the fall of Tripoli, Saif al-Islam was captured while attempting to flee Libya in disguise, imprisoned in Zintan, and later sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes.
Released under a controversial amnesty in 2017, he spent years in hiding, constantly evading assassination — until now.
His dramatic return to the political spotlight in 2021, when he declared his intention to run for president, reignited old divisions and helped derail Libya’s long-delayed elections, pushing the country back into deadlock.
With his killing, one of the last pillars of the Gaddafi era has fallen violently, raising fears that Libya’s unresolved past may once again drag the nation toward chaos.
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