The killing of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the heir apparent of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, marks a pivotal and potentially destabilising moment for the country.
Shot on the evening of February 3rd at his residence in the western city of Zintan, his assassination has sent a shockwave through Libyan politics that is likely to reverberate across the country’s fragile social fabric and already strained institutional order.
For over a decade, Saif al-Islam embodied an unresolved chapter of Libya’s post-2011 transition. His survival alone challenged the narrative that Libya had decisively moved beyond the Gaddafi era.
Now, that chapter has been violently closed.
The assassination
On Tuesday evening, Saif al-Islam was at home observing the fast when armed men entered the property.
While on the phone with members of his political team, he alerted them to the presence of intruders moments before gunfire erupted.
