🇱🇾 On Monday morning, 5 October, the family of Dr. Mohamed Sharf al-Dine, a prominent university professor, issued a public plea following his disappearance in Tripoli on Sunday night, 4 October. His car and phones were later found, but he remains missing. Dr Mohamed Sharf al-Dine is a civilian with no political affiliation to either side of Libya’s divide. There is speculation in political circles that he may have been kidnapped because of his familial relations to key actors, potentially as a means of exerting political pressure. Neither the circumstances of his disappearance nor any alleged motive have been confirmed. His disappearance comes as relations between eastern and western Libya deteriorate and spoilers intensify efforts to derail the 4+4 agreement and the American initiative. If these suspicions prove accurate, targeting an innocent civilian over his family ties would mark a dangerous and reckless escalation, risking retaliation and a rise in tensions that could prove difficult to reverse, extending far beyond the breakdown of political talks. Actors in Tripoli and eastern Libya have been working intensively since Monday to establish what happened and prevent the situation from spiralling into wider unrest. The case remains severely underreported, but behind the scenes it is quickly emerging as one of the most serious fault lines between eastern and western Libya.