Libyan National Army in the context of Islamic State in Libya

The Council of Cyrenaica in Libya (CCL; Arabic: مجلس برقة في ليبيا), formerly known as the Cyrenaica Transitional Council (CTC; Arabic: مجلس إقليم برقة الانتقالي), is a Libyan federalist political organisation that claims to be the devolved government of the region of Cyrenaica. It calls for the restoration of the federalist 1951 constitution, with the creation of a regional parliament of Cyrenaica that would hold devolved control over domestic affairs and security policy. Since 2012, it has been led by Ahmed al-Senussi, who was elected president of Cyrenaica at its founding conference of 3,000 members. Since 2014, its leader in the House of Representatives has been Abu Bakr Baira. Its military branch is the Army of Cyrenaica (AC; Arabic: جيش برقة), which is led by colonel Hamid Hassi and supports the Libyan National Army of Khalifa Haftar.

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.

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 original Libyan Armed Forces (Arabic: القوات المسلحة الليبية) under the Kingdom of Libya of King Idris I was trained by the United Kingdom and the United States. Since Muammar Gaddafi rose to power in 1969, Libya received military assistance from the Soviet Union. The Libyan military fought in several wars, including the Libyan–Egyptian War (1977) and the Chadian–Libyan conflict (1978–1987).

The armed forces dissolved in the course of the Libyan civil war (2011), and after a second civil war, armed groups in Libya were divided between west and east. The Government of National Accord's Libyan Army is a collection of militias around Tripoli. In the east after Khalifa Haftar was appointed in 2015 by the Libyan parliament in Tobruk as the supreme commander, many militias in the eastern part of Libya came under his command as the "Libyan National Army" (LNA). (Arabic: الجيش الوطني الليبي). As of November 2019, the regular core of the LNA (about 7000 soldiers) was complemented by Salafist militias and foreign mercenaries (about 18000 soldiers).

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.

Abdullah al-Theni (Arabic: عبد الله الثني  Libyan pronunciation: [ʕæbˈdɑllɑ tˈtini, -ˈθæni]) is a Libyan politician who served as the prime minister of Libya, from 2014, when he took over in an interim capacity after the dismissal of Ali Zeidan, to 2021. In the context of the second Libyan civil war, he served as prime minister under the Tobruk-based government. His government received widespread international recognition until 2016 as well as backing from both the Libyan House of Representatives and the Libyan National Army. He was previously the defence minister in the government of Zeidan.

The Government of National Stability (Arabic: حكومة الاستقرار الوطني, romanized: Ḥukūmat al-istiqrār al-waṭanī) is a rival government that controls eastern Libya. It was formed on 3 March 2022, is led by Osama Hammad and supported by the House of Representatives and the Libyan National Army. Since its inception, the government has claimed power over Libya in competition with the Tripoli based Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, with the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum coordinating the ceasefire agreement.

The Government of National Stability is a nominal civilian government in control of eastern Libya. However, de facto control in this area is held by the Libyan National Army and its commander Khalifa Haftar, who controls the government and the region through a military dictatorship.