Saif al-Islam needed to present himself as Libyan rather than as a Gaddafi, someone from Sirte or someone from the desert. In the early 2000s, Saif al-Islam presented himself to Western capitals as an acceptable face of the regime. When eastern Libya rose up in 2011, Muammar Gaddafi declared that Saif al-Islam would go to Benghazi to negotiate. Saif al-Islam chose survival over battle. Saif al-Islam was not the answer for Libya, just as Abdulhamid Dbeibah, Khalifa Haftar, Fathi Bashagha, Ali Zeidan and Aref al-Nayed are not.

Source: Libya Today February 04, 2026 14:06 UTC