Government of National Accord in the context of "Interim government"

From November 2015 to 2019, the United States and allies carried out a large series of both airstrikes and drone strikes to intervene in Libya during the country's ongoing civil war that erupted following the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. The intervention was conducted in support of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and primarily targeted the ISIL presence in the region, which had exploited Libya's political fragmentation and security vacuum to establish a significant foothold in the country. By 2019, the ISIL branch had been largely driven from holding Libyan territory, and US strikes ceased.

The, Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF; Arabic: القوات المسلحة العربية الليبية) also known as the Libyan Arab Army (LAA; Arabic: الجيش العربي الليبي, al-Jaysh al-'Arabiyy al-Lībii) or the Libyan National Army (LNA; Arabic: الجيش الوطني الليبي, al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii), are the armed forces of the Libyan faction led by Khalifa Haftar. They were, nominally, a unified national force under the command of Haftar when he was nominated to the role on 2 March 2015 by the House of Representatives, consisting at the time of a ground force, an air force and a navy.

In 2014, LNA launched Operation Dignity, a military campaign against the General National Congress and armed militias and Islamist militant organizations. When the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) was established in Tripoli, part of the Libyan military forces were named the Libyan Army to contrast with the other part that retained the LNA identity. In the Second Libyan Civil War, the LNA was loyal to that part of the Libyan House of Representatives that met in Tobruk, internationally recognised until October 2015. It fights against the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, as well as Islamic State in Libya which was a common enemy for both LNA and the Libyan Army.

Sabha or Sebha /ˈsɛb.hɑː/ (Arabic: سَبْهَا, romanized: Sabhā) is an oasis city in southwestern Libya, approximately 640 kilometres (400 mi) south of Tripoli. It was historically the capital of the Fezzan region and the Fezzan-Ghadames Military Territory and is the capital of the Sabha District. Sabha Air Base, south of the city, is a Libyan Air Force installation that is home to multiple MiG-25 aircraft.

Sabha was where the erstwhile ruler of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, grew up and received secondary education and where he also later became involved in political activism. After the Libyan Civil War and the resultant instability in the country, Sabha reportedly grew in importance as a slave auctioning town. However, an investigation by the National Commission for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL) revealed that while there was illegal slavery, reports were exaggerated, as slave auctions were rare and not made public. The city was seized by forces loyal to the Libyan National Army (LNA) and its leader Khalifa Haftar in January 2019, but some politicians in the area switched their loyalty to the Government of National Accord (GNA) in May 2020.