Libya's prime minister sacked Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush on Monday in an effort to contain a growing furore over Mangoush's meeting with her Israeli counterpart last week, which prompted protests overnight in several Libyan cities.
Mangoush had said her meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Rome was unplanned and informal, but an Israeli official told Reuters it had lasted two hours and was approved"at the highest levels in Libya".
Libya has been without a stable central government since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Dbeibah's interim government, in office since 2021, is not recognised by some major factions and there is growing political momentum to replace it with a new unified administration aimed at holding national elections.
A second Libyan official said Dbeibah had asked Italy to arrange the meeting in the hopes of gaining stronger U.S. and other international backing for his interim government.