Keypoints:
- Saif al-Islam was shot dead in his Zintan home
- Allies accuse London and Paris of using local proxies
- His death raises stakes around Libya’s elections
LIBYA’S most recognisable political figure outside formal power structures has been killed — and his allies are now pointing the finger directly at France and the United Kingdom, alleging that Western intelligence services worked through local armed actors to remove him.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi, was shot dead on Tuesday night in his residence in the hill town of Zintan. His political team said four masked men stormed the property, disabled security cameras and confronted him in what they called a ‘cowardly and treacherous assassination’.
The allegations of foreign involvement were first amplified by regional outlet The Cradle, which reported that Saif was seen by many Libyans as the only figure capable of bridging the country’s fractured political and tribal landscape.
If the accusations prove accurate, Saif’s killing would represent one of the most consequential covert interventions in post-2011 Libya — eliminating a potential unifying candidate just as the country edges, fitfully, towards national elections.
Why London is in the dock
British broadcaster Afshin Rattansi told The Cradle that sources inside Libya believed UK intelligence had relied on local proxies to carry out the operation. He argued that Saif was viewed in London as a leader who might resist what critics describe as Libya’s transformation into a permanently fragmented, resource-dependent state.
Rattansi linked the alleged plot to NATO’s 2011 intervention, saying the alliance ‘bombed Libya into a failed state’ during the campaign that ended with Muammar Gaddafi’s killing. The British government has not responded publicly, and no independent evidence has been produced.
Paris under scrutiny
Rattansi also implicated France, citing 2011 diplomatic cables suggesting that Paris under former president Nicolas Sarkozy sought up to 35 percent of Libya’s oil production. He claimed that Saif’s cross-tribal popularity made him a threat to external powers seeking influence over Libya’s energy sector.
French officials have rejected the accusations as baseless.
A candidate who could have united rivals
Unlike most Libyan politicians, Saif maintained relationships across rival regions and militias. Even tribes that fought his father in 2011 had begun signalling cautious support for him as a compromise figure.
His removal therefore strips Libya of a rare bridge-builder at a moment when the country remains split between rival administrations in Tripoli and the east, each backed by competing foreign patrons.
Elections — accelerated or distorted?
Supporters of Saif warn that Washington, London and Paris may now push ahead with long-delayed elections without him in the race, ensuring a winner more aligned with their interests. Critics counter that rushing polls without broad legitimacy could entrench division rather than heal it.
Libya has failed repeatedly to hold nationwide elections since 2014.
Moscow’s wider accusation
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) issued a statement linking Saif’s killing to what it described as France’s ‘neo-colonial coups d’état’ across Africa. The SVR alleged that President Emmanuel Macron had authorised plans to eliminate ‘undesirable leaders’ on the continent — a charge Paris dismissed as propaganda.
Saif’s long road from 2011
Saif served as his father’s closest adviser from 2000 until the NATO-backed uprising. Captured near Zintan in 2011 after Muammar Gaddafi’s death, he was held locally rather than transferred to the International Criminal Court.
He was released in 2017 under a general amnesty and had lived quietly in Zintan, periodically signalling a return to national politics.
Sahel connection
The SVR also referenced an alleged French-backed plot against Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traoré last month. Security minister Mahamadou Sana said local intelligence disrupted a plan to assassinate him and attack key institutions.
Traoré is a founder of the Alliance of Sahel States with Mali and Niger — a bloc that has distanced itself from Paris and drawn closer to Moscow.
What happens now
Libyan authorities have yet to announce a transparent investigation into Saif’s killing. Without one, suspicions of foreign interference are likely to harden — and the road to credible elections will look even more uncertain.
