Second Libyan Civil War

The Second Libyan Civil War broke out in mid-2014 following disputed parliamentary elections and the launch of Operation Dignity by General Khalifa Haftar against Islamist-aligned militias in Benghazi. The country split between two rival authorities: the internationally recognised House of Representatives (HoR), which relocated to Tobruk and was backed by Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), and the General National Congress (GNC) in Tripoli, supported by a coalition of militias including those from Misrata.

UN-led mediation produced the Libyan Political Agreement signed in Skhirat, Morocco in December 2015, which created the Government of National Accord (GNA) under Fayez al-Sarraj. The GNA installed itself in Tripoli in March 2016 but failed to win the HoR's endorsement, leaving three competing centres of power alongside numerous armed groups, jihadist enclaves, and a brief Islamic State foothold in Sirte (dislodged in 2016).

The conflict drew heavy foreign involvement in apparent breach of the UN arms embargo imposed by Security Council Resolution 1970 (2011). Turkey and Qatar backed the GNA; the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Russia (including Wagner Group personnel) supported the LNA; France was widely reported to have provided tacit assistance to Haftar.

A decisive phase began in April 2019 when Haftar launched an offensive on Tripoli. Turkish military intervention in early 2020, authorised under a November 2019 maritime and security memorandum with the GNA, reversed LNA gains. A nationwide ceasefire was signed in Geneva on 23 October 2020 under the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum subsequently selected a unified interim executive, the Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, in February 2021, formally ending the war though leaving deep political and security fragmentation unresolved.