BENGHAZI (Dispatches) -- French and British intelligence reportedly orchestrated the assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Zintan, Libya, on February 3. 
According to his political team, four masked gunmen stormed his home, disabling security cameras to erase evidence. 
Afshin Rattansi, the British broadcaster and former Press TV presenter, reported that British intelligence likely used local proxies to carry out the killing, eliminating the man widely seen as capable of uniting Libya after 15 years of fragmentation following NATO’s 2011 invasion. 
Rattansi also noted France’s deep motives in Libya, highlighting former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2011 negotiations to secure up to 35% of the country’s oil production.
Saif al-Islam, who had been his father Muammar Gaddafi’s closest advisor from 2000 to 2011, had been imprisoned in Zintan after attempting to flee Libya following his father’s death and was released in 2017 as part of a general pardon. 
His assassination removed the most viable candidate for national reunification, particularly given his support from tribes that had opposed his father during the NATO-backed uprising.
The 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi was orchestrated by Britain, France, and other Western regimes, which organized an army led by the Al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). 
NATO planes, operating under a UN-mandated no-fly zone over Benghazi, bombed Tripoli, enabling the LIFG to seize power. Sirte, the site of Muammar Gaddafi’s death, later became a major Daesh hub, while Libya’s oil and institutions were looted, leaving the country fractured.
According to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), France is conducting “neo-colonial coups d’etat” across Africa, targeting leaders who resist its influence. 
The SVR cited the recent attempt to remove Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traore, with Burkina Faso’s security minister Mahamadou Sana confirming that French-backed forces had planned to assassinate Traore and strike key institutions. France reportedly pursues similar operations in Mali, the Central African Republic, and Madagascar.
Rattansi emphasized that Saif al-Islam’s killing clears the path for Western powers to control Libya’s future political trajectory. He argued that the United States, Britain, and France will now push ahead with elections in Libya without the candidate most likely to resist foreign domination, ensuring continued access to Libya’s oil and strategic resources.
Saif al-Islam’s death is framed by his supporters as the direct result of Western intelligence operations aiming to suppress independent leadership and maintain neo-colonial influence in North Africa.