FACTBOX - Libyan Conflict

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th April, 2019) The forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Khalifa Haftar, started to advance on Tripoli, controlled by the UN-backed interim Government of National Accord (GNA).

Media reported on Thursday that Haftar had ordered an offensive on Tripoli after his army took control over cities of Surman and Garyan. Haftar's aim was to "liberate the city from terrorists."

The armed conflict in Libya began in February 2011 as one of the stages of the so-called Arab Spring. Mass rallies erupted in Libyan provinces with demands for the departure of Jamahiriya leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi, who had been in power for over 40 years and ruled the country under a clannish and inter-tribal system.

The city of Benghazi, the second-largest city in Libya, became a stronghold of Gaddafi opponents. Military confrontation between government forces and rebels began in the country. Direct foreign intervention had a profound impact on the course of the confrontation.

Anti-government protests began in Benghazi on February 15. Demonstrators demanded the release of lawyer and human rights activist Fathi Terbil, who was representing the families of those killed during the riot in Abu Slim prison in 1996.

The crowd of protesters did not disperse after Terbil was released, but clashed with the police. After that, the security forces dispersed several hundred demonstrators, who were chanting slogans against the government. Libyan media reported that 14 people were injured in the clashes.

By the end of February, the city of Benghazi fell under the control of Gaddafi opponents. A national Libyan council was formed in the city. It was a revolutionary body, the authority of which had to be recognized by all the cities that had supported the overthrow of Gaddafi government.

Opponents' speeches spread across Tripoli. According to international organizations, the authorities brutally suppressed the demonstrations.

On February 26, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution introducing international sanctions against the Libyan leadership. The UN Security Council measures, designed to stop the killing of the regime opponents, in particular, provided for an embargo on arms trade with Libya, freezing of accounts and a ban on the Libyan leader's foreign trips. This prohibition also applied to the leader's family and some of his entourage.

By this time, Gaddafi had almost completely lost control over the eastern part of the country.

On February 27, the Libyan opposition announced the formation of an interim authority, the National Transitional Council, and preparations for the presidential election.

On March 17, the United States and its Western partners initiated adoption of the resolution by the UN Security Council, the resolution introducing a no-fly zone over Libya. Russia and China decided not to use their veto power, as they considered that it did not run counter to the international community's efforts to resolve the situation in the country.

In practice, however, the forces of the NATO-led Western coalition exceeded the UN mandate and began to launch air strikes against the country's state, civilian and military facilities, thereby siding with the rebels.

On March 19, a foreign military operation against the Gaddafi regime began in Libya. The armed forces of the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Denmark took part in it. The aircraft of the French Air Force, which took off from the Saint-Dizier-Robinson airbase, launched the first airstrike against Libyan military facilities near Benghazi.

On March 31, the leadership of the campaign in Libya completely passed to the representatives of the NATO command.

The armed rebellion in Libya lasted about nine months. As a result, Gaddafi was overthrown and killed on October 20, 2011, near his hometown of Sirte, where he was hiding from the harassment of the opposition.

The oil-producing country suffered tremendous economic damage.

The exact number of deaths is still unknown. According to official Libyan statistics, 5,500 people were killed during these several months of 2011. According to expert estimates, 40,000 people died during the NATO operation.

On October 23, 2011, the National Transitional Council officially announced the end of the civil war in Libya.

The NATO operation in Libya ended on October 31, 2011.

After Gaddafi's death, various clans and armed groups began the struggle for power both at the state and regional levels.

On July 7, 2012, parliamentary elections to the General National Congress were held in Libya. The majority of seats went to two competing parties: the National Forces Alliance and the Islamist Justice and Construction Party.

The confrontation between the Islamists and moderate forces with the support from a part of the military personnel led to another armed conflict, which resulted in the establishment of dual power in the country in August 2014.

The House of Representatives, recognized by the world community, was based in the city of Tobruk in the east of the country, while the pro-Islamic General National Congress (GNC), which was supported by armed groups, was based in Tripoli.

Both governments and both parliaments (the GNC in Tripoli and the House of Representatives in Tobruk) raised claims to be considered the only legitimate leadership of the Libyan state. This led to a new phase of the long-lasting armed conflict in Libya. The amorphous nature of both formations, lack of resources and local support prevented any of them from gaining a crucial advantage in the ensuing military confrontation.

The relentless attempts of the UN and international mediators to bring the representatives of the GNC and the House of Representatives to the negotiating table were unsuccessful. Notable progress was made at the end of 2015.

On December 17, 2015, the Libyan Political Agreement under the auspices of the UN on the settlement of the internal conflict was signed in Morocco's Skhirat.

The main point of the agreement, which took the parties to the conflict 14 months to coordinate, was the formation of an interim Government of National Accord, which would operate during a transitional two-year period. It should have ended with new parliamentary elections.

On December 23, 2015, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2259 approving the December 17 agreement on the formation of the Government of National Accord. The resolution was unanimously approved by 15 members of the UN Security Council.

The Government of National Accord was formed on March 31, 2016, and was headed by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj.

Islamists from the GNC, which stopped existing at the time, joined the High Council of State, a parallel parliament, which, according to the UN plan, should have played an advisory role.

The Tobruk parliament did not support the Government of National Accord, rejecting a vote of confidence in it. The parliament appointed influential General Khalifa Haftar, former friend of Muammar Gaddafi, commander of the armed forces.

Dual power and a collapse of the security system led to an increase in the activities of armed rebel groups and terrorist organizations.

Libya became a breeding ground for the Islamic State (IS terrorist group, banned in Russia) outside the middle East. After settling in the port city of Sirte, where Gaddafi held out until the fall of 2011, the terrorists took control of a part of Libya's seacoast, interposing themselves between territories controlled by competing power centers. Together, political opponents drove the IS out of Sirte, but there were no evidence that the leaders of the group were destroyed.

According to media reports, supporters of the IS fled to the south, to the desert. In September 2017, Haftar's inner circle admitted that the Islamists "are returning to their previous place."

Within several years, the Libyan National Army, under Haftar's leadership, freed vast territories in the east of the country from terrorists close to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization (banned in Russia) and the IS, and completely cleared the cities of Benghazi and Derna from radicals. In July 2018, the representative of the Libyan National Army said that its troops controlled up to 90 percent of the country.

As a result of years-long civil conflict, there is no single central government in Libya, and the country's eastern and western parts are controlled by separate powers. The Tobruk-based parliament, elected in 2014 and backed by the LNA, governs the east of Libya, while the GNA, controls Libya's western parts from Tripoli.

Multiple states, primarily regional ones, have attempted to act as mediators to resolve the Libyan conflict or to influence of the warring parties.

Last May, an international conference on settling the situation in Libya was held in Paris under the auspices of the United Nations. The meeting was attended by Sarraj, Haftar, Aguila Saleh and the president of parliament in eastern Libya, among others.

During the meeting, the sides agreed to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on December 10 and to work toward unifying the country's security forces. However, the agreements reached in Paris were not implemented.

In November 2018, a conference on the Libyan settlement was held in Italy's Palermo. It was attended by the Libyan authorities, including Sarraj, as well as the presidents of Egypt and Tunis. The Russian delegation to the meeting was led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Haftar also attended the conference, during which he held separate talks with delegations from France, Egypt, Tunis and Russia. Private talks with Haftar provoked discontent among the supporters of Sarraj.

Yet, during the conference, the sides agreed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduling them for spring.