On 29 September, the Italian daily newspaper Il Foglio reported that Libyan National Army (LNA) Deputy Commander Lieutenant General Saddam Haftar allegedly met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on 27 September.
According to flight-tracking data, an Airbus A319neo ACJ, registration number P4-KH5I9, arrived from Benghazi at Abu Dhabi’s al-Bateen airport at 12:40 local time, roughly 20 minutes after Netanyahu arrived at the same airport with a Bombardier BD-700 (registration number M-ULTI). According to Il Foglio, this aircraft is usually used by Saddam Haftar for trips abroad.
Based on this information and citing Mohamed Buisier – once a political adviser to Khalifa Haftar and now a firm opponent – the paper claimed that Saddam Haftar met Netanyahu in Dubai to obtain political support for his candidacy for the Libyan presidency. Il Foglio stated that Saddam allegedly sought a summit with U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance and hopes to have a meeting with Kimberly Guilfoyle, U.S. Ambassador to Greece who is very close to President Trump.
Additionally, while Netanyahu was on the ground, state flights from Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar appeared to land at the UAE’s al-Bateen Executive Airport, southeast of Abu Dhabi.
Later on 29 September, i24NEWS, an Israel-headquartered 24-hour international television news network, ‘confirmed’ that there was no meeting between Netanyahu and Saddam Haftar, referring to ‘information’ obtained by the channel.