Government of National Accord in the context of Libyan Civil War (2014–present)

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.

The Libyan civil war (2014–2020), also known as the Second Libyan Civil War, was a multilateral civil war which was fought in Libya among a number of armed groups, but mainly the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Government of National Accord (GNA), for six years from 2014 to 2020.

The General National Congress (GNC), based in western Libya and backed by various militias with some support from Qatar and Turkey, initially accepted the results of the 2014 election, but rejected them after the Supreme Constitutional Court nullified an amendment regarding the roadmap for Libya's transition and HoR elections. The House of Representatives (or Council of Deputies) is in control of eastern and central Libya and has the loyalty of the Libyan National Army (LNA), and has been supported by airstrikes by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Due to controversy about constitutional amendments, HoR refused to take office from GNC in Tripoli, which was controlled by armed Islamist groups from Misrata. Instead, HoR established its parliament in Tobruk, which is controlled by General Khalifa Haftar's forces. In December 2015, the Libyan Political Agreement was signed after talks in Skhirat, as the result of protracted negotiations between rival political camps based in Tripoli, Tobruk, and elsewhere which agreed to unite as the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA). On 30 March 2016, Fayez Sarraj, the head of GNA, arrived in Tripoli and began working from there despite opposition from GNC.

The Western Libya campaign was a military campaign initiated on 4 April 2019 by the Operation Flood of Dignity (Arabic: عملية طوفان الكرامة) of the Libyan National Army (LNA), which represents the Libyan House of Representatives, to capture the western region of Libya and eventually the capital Tripoli held by the United Nations Security Council-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA). The GNA regained control over all of Tripoli in June 2020 and the LNA forces withdrew from the capital, after fourteen months of fighting.

The offensive resulted in over 2,468 dead. It began on 4 April 2019, 10 days before the Libyan National Conference for organising presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya had been planned to take place, and five days after the first session of the 2019 Libyan local elections was held successfully. As a result of the offensive, United Nations Support Mission in Libya postponed the forthcoming Libyan National Conference.

The Government of National Unity (Arabic: حكومة الوحدة الوطنية, Hukūmat al-Wahda al-Watanīya) is the internationally recognised government of Libya formed on 10 March 2021 to unify the rival Government of National Accord based in Tripoli and the Second Al-Thani Cabinet, based in Tobruk. Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh is the Prime Minister of the unity government and was selected in the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum on 5 February 2021.

Aguila Saleh Issa Gueider (Arabic: عقيلة صالح عيسى اقويدر; born January 11, 1944) is a Libyan jurist and politician who is the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives since 2014. He therefore served as the head of state of Libya from 2014 to 2021 under the Tobruk-based second Cabinet of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Theni, which, from its formation in 2014 to the formation of the Tripoli-based Cabinet of Fayez al-Sarraj in 2016, was recognized by the international community as the legitimate government of Libya during the second Libyan civil war. He is also a representative of the town of Al Qubbah, in the east of the country.

Since the outbreak of the Libyan civil war in 2011, the unified pre-war Gaddafi armed forces dissolved. The pre-war Libyan Army (Arabic: رئاسة الأركان العامة للجيش الليبي) no longer exists.

The armed forces dissolved in the course of the Libyan civil war, and after a second civil war, armed groups in Libya are generally divided between the Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli, which has a collection of militias, and Khalifa Haftar's "Libyan National Army" in and around Benghazi. The forces loyal to the GNA have been fighting against various other factions in Libya, including the Islamic State. Most of the forces under the Tripoli government's command consist of various militia groups, such as the Tripoli Protection Force, and local factions from cities like Misrata and Zintan.