House of Representatives (Libya) in the context of "Cyrenaica Transitional Council"

The General National Congress or General National Council (GNC; Arabic: المؤتمر الوطني العام) was the legislative authority of Libya for two years following the end of the First Libyan Civil War. It was elected by popular vote on 7 July 2012, and took power from the National Transitional Council on 8 August.

Tasked primarily with transitioning Libya to a permanent democratic constitution, it was given an 18-month deadline to fulfill this goal. When the deadline passed with work on the new constitution only just having gotten underway, Congress was forced to organise elections to a new House of Representatives, which took power and replaced it on 4 August 2014.

Abu Bakr Mustaffa Baira (Arabic: أبوبكر مصطفى بعيرة; born July 21, 1941) is a Libyan politician who was the Acting Speaker of the House of Representatives (also known as the Libyan House of Representatives-HoR Arabic: مجلس النواب) of Libya, a role he held as the oldest member of Libya's legislature until Aguila Saleh Issa was appointed permanent chair.

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.

Khalifa Haftar (Arabic: خليفة حفتر, romanized: Ḵalīfa Ḥaftar; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA). In 2015, he was appointed commander of the armed forces loyal to the elected legislative body, the Libyan House of Representatives. He has been the de facto ruler of the eastern part of Libya since 2017, governing the region as a military dictatorship under the LNA.

Haftar was born in Ajdabiya. He served in the Libyan Army under Muammar Gaddafi, and took part in the coup that brought Gaddafi to power in 1969. He participated in the Libyan contingent against Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Haftar then participated in the Chadian-Libyan war (1978–1987), becoming promoted to Chief officer of the Libyan military in Chad in 1986 until he was captured by Chadian forces in 1987 and held as a prisoner of war, which was seen as a major embarrassment for Gaddafi and represented a major blow to Gaddafi's ambitions in Chad. While being held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Gaddafi. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades living in the U.S. in Langley, Virginia, and gained U.S. citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia in Libya, of crimes against the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and sentenced to death.

The Libyan crisis is the current humanitarian crisis and political-military instability occurring in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to two civil wars, foreign military intervention, and the ousting and killing of Muammar Gaddafi. The first civil war's aftermath and proliferation of armed groups led to violence and instability across the country, which erupted into renewed civil war in 2014. The second war lasted until October 23, 2020, when all parties agreed to a permanent ceasefire and negotiations.

The crisis in Libya has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties since the onset of violence in early 2011. During both civil wars, the output of Libya's economically crucial oil industry collapsed to a small fraction of its usual level, despite having the largest oil reserves of any African country, with most facilities blockaded or damaged by rival groups. The parallels between the revolutions in Libya and Syria are sometimes viewed in opposition to each other.

This article lists the heads of state of Libya since the country's independence in 1951.

Libya has been in a tumultuous state since the start of the Arab Spring-related Libyan crisis in 2011; the crisis resulted in the collapse of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, amidst the First Civil War and the foreign military intervention. The crisis was deepened by the factional violence in the aftermath of the First Civil War, resulting in the outbreak of the Second Civil War in 2014. The control over the country is currently split between the internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli and the rival Government of National Stability (GNS)—supported by the House of Representatives (HoR)—in Tobruk, their respective supporters, as well as various jihadist groups and tribal elements controlling parts of the country.

The Government of National Accord (GNA; Arabic: حكومة الوفاق الوطني) was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. The agreement was unanimously endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, which welcomed the formation of a Presidency Council for Libya and recognized the Government of National Accord as the sole legitimate executive authority in Libya. On 31 December 2015, Chairman of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh Issa declared his support for the Libyan Political Agreement. The General National Congress has criticized the GNA on multiple fronts as biased in favor of its rival parliament the House of Representatives.

As of 2016, the Government of National Accord had 17 ministers and was led by the Prime Minister. The first meeting of the cabinet of the GNA took place on 2 January 2016 in Tunis. A full cabinet consisting of 18 ministers was announced in January 2016.