Founded in 1955, the institution in eastern Libya was heavily damaged during battles between jihadist groups and forces led by military commander Khalifa Haftar between 2014 and 2016, after the uprising that toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

University president Ezzedin Younis Eddressi said in an interview that around 90 percent of the campus complex had been destroyed during the conflict and that explosives had been planted across the grounds when jihadist groups controlled the city. He also said rare manuscripts dating back centuries were looted but later recovered.

Despite the destruction, classes continued during the worst years of the fighting using alternative facilities across Benghazi, with schools shared between schoolchildren in the morning and university students in the afternoon, according to the administration.

Nearly 70,000 students now attend the university, still using temporary facilities while a new campus—covering about 600 hectares—is expected to open in the coming months. The reconstruction has been overseen by Libya’s Reconstruction Fund, which is headed by Belgacem Haftar, son of Khalifa Haftar.

Students and graduates interviewed by AFP described gradual improvements in security and infrastructure. Maryam Alrefadi, a graduate who now teaches French online, said the city had regained stability and opportunities compared to the conflict years, while current students said conditions had improved significantly despite lingering economic challenges.

Ayesha Al-Mogassbi, a 19-year-old student, said earlier years were marked by shortages and instability but added that students now aim for broader opportunities and development. Others noted that students from across Libya, including Tripoli, are studying together, reflecting a sense of national cohesion despite the country’s political divisions.

Libya remains split between rival administrations in the east and west, though university officials emphasized plans to maintain open access and international academic partnerships as part of long-term rebuilding efforts.

The Rome-based World Food Programme (WFP) said the reduction would lower the number of Syrians receiving emergency food aid from 1.3 million people to 650,000. The agency said 7.2 million people in Syria continue to face acute food insecurity even after conditions stabilized following the end of the country’s civil war.

WFP said the cuts were driven entirely by financial constraints rather than improving humanitarian conditions. The agency added that it required $189 million over the next six months to maintain and restore assistance operations in Syria.

“The reduction in WFP’s assistance is driven solely by funding constraints, not by a decrease in needs,” Marianne Ward, WFP director in Syria, said in a statement issued by the agency.

Ward described the current period as a fragile stage in Syria’s recovery, warning that the withdrawal of food assistance would remove a critical safety net for vulnerable communities.

As part of its food support operations, WFP said it had been supplying fortified wheat flour to more than 300 bakeries across Syria under a bread subsidy initiative designed to keep staple food prices affordable for low-income families.

“The bread subsidy program has been a vital lifeline, keeping this staple food affordable,” the agency said.
The funding shortfall is also affecting Syrian refugees in neighboring countries including Jordan and Lebanon, WFP said, as regional humanitarian programs face mounting financial pressure amid rising living costs and prolonged displacement.

“Across the region, vulnerable families are facing the cumulative effects of prolonged crises, rising costs, and shrinking assistance,” Samer Abdeljaber, WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, said in the statement.

International humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that donor fatigue and competing global crises are straining relief operations in Syria and across the wider Middle East, where millions remain dependent on food assistance more than a decade after conflict erupted.