Libyan Civil War (2014–present)

Second Libyan Civil War
	Part of the Arab Winter and the Libyan Crisis
	; Military situation in Libya on 11 June 2020 Under the control of the House of Representatives and the Libyan National Army Under the control of the Government of National Accord (GNA) and different militias forming the Libya Shield Force Controlled by local forces (For a more detailed map, see military situation in the Libyan Civil War)
Date	16 May 2014 – 23 October 2020; (6 years, 5 months and 1 week)
Location	Libya
Result	Ceasefire Permanent ceasefire ratified on 23 October 2020; Government of National Unity formed on 10 March 2021;
Main belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Casualties and losses
	14,882+ killed (2014–2018, 2019–2020, incomplete)

In February 2011 started an upheavel and armed conflict against Muammar Qadaffi. Qadaffi, Libya's absolute ruler during 42 years, was killed in October 2011. This armed revolt is referred to as the first civil war in Libya. ^[1] Political and military factions engaged since 2011 in an ungoing struggle to get control over the Libyan territory^[2] in alliances with external actors.^[3] Since February 2011, the Libyan civil war went through different phases, including periods of intensified armed confrontations^[4].The violent confrontations led to serious human rights abuses as well as war crimes.^[5] A second phase of intense fighting between rival factions seeking control of Libya, often referred to as the second Libyan civil war, started in 2014.^[6] Between April 2019 and June 2020 very intense fighting took place when General Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) tried in vain to capture the capital Tripoli and to oust the United Nations-recognized government. Both sides were backed by foreign actors.^[7] Experts from the United Nations noted in 2020 that the Tripoli based government supported by Turkey as well the LNA assisted by Russian private military personel of the so-called Wagner Group involved other third country nationals in their military operations.^[8]

The conflict is mostly between two rival power centres; one is based in Tripoli; the other in the east of Tobruk. In October 2020, the two administrations accepted a ceasefire and Libyan politicians agreed on having a unified interim government as well as parliamentary and presidential elections in December 2021.^[9] The rival camps consist of:

on the one hand, the HoR, the House of Representatives, elected in 2014 with a low turnout, which relocated to Tobruk in the east and is aligned to Khalifa Haftar. The HoR chose in February 2022 Fathi Bashaga, a former minister of Interior, as interim prime minister of Libya;^[10]

on the other hand in Tripoli the interim-government led by Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah supported by the military from the western part of the country. Dbeibah was elected in February 2021 by the Libyan Poltical Dialogue Forum (LPDF). This forum consists of 75 persons representing Libya's main geographical regions as well as social and political groups.^[11]

Legal and political obstacles led to a political impasse and presidential elections postponed for an indefinite period. While no major armed clashes took place since the October 2020 ceasefire, security incidents continued to be reported by the United Nations especially in the western and southern parts of Libya.^[12] The United Nations Special Advisor on Libya initiated a dialogue between the rival political camps. In April 2022, a first meeting took place in Cairo (Egypt). However, an agreement has yet to be achieved. ^[13]