Battle of Sirte (2015) | |||||||
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Part of the Second Libyan Civil War | |||||||
Mathābah al-Madīnah, Assembly building, in Sirte (2007) | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Libya Shield Force | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
General Mohammad al-Ajtal (Army Commander) [2] Suliman Ali Mousa [3] | Abu Nabil al-Anbari (ISIL commander of North Africa) ContentsAli Al-Qarqaa (ISIL Emir of Nofaliya) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | 2,000 fighters [4] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
10 killed [1] [5] [6] | 41 killed [1] [6] [7] |
The Battle of Sirte refers to the battle in the spring of 2015, in the region of Sirte, Libya, between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Libya Shield Force. ISIL forces had been present in the city since February 2015, [8] before the Fall of Nofaliya. After Nofaliya fell to ISIL forces, the Tripoli-based government had decided to send reinforcements to recapture Sirte. [9]
The fighting began 14 March 2015, between forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the forces of the Libya Shield Force. No death toll was initially given, but the fighting was described as being violent, and stopped at dusk. [10] Among those killed was Ahmed al-Rouissi, a Tunisian ISIL commander. [11]
On 18 March, 12 Tripoli government soldiers were killed during fighting against Islamic State fighters; 10 in Nofaliya and 2 in Bin Jawad. [12]
On 25 March, ISIL attacked a Brigade 166 checkpoint, 15 kilometers west of Sirte, killing five militiamen. [5]
Over the next two months, sporadic fighting took place around Sirte. On 20 May, ISIL forces again attacked a Brigade 166 position. According to a Libya Dawn official, 23 ISIL fighters and one soldier were killed. [6] On 28 May ISIL captured the nearly-ruined Ghardabiya Airbase and the Great Man-Made River water project outside of Sirte when Libyan Shield Forces withdrew. [1] [13] Over the next few days, Libya Shield Forces withdrew to positions 12 miles west of Sirte, after ISIL advanced to the east, south, and west of the city. [1]
During August and September, new clashes erupted in Sirte between pro-Gaddafi loyalists and ISIL forces. [14] On 23 September, ISIL once again asserted its control over the whole of Sirte after it expelled all the remaining pro-Gaddafi elements.
In February 2016, U.S. officials believed that there were 5,000 to 6,000 ISIL fighters in Libya, [15] and gave a maximum estimate of up to 6,500. [16] This marked an increase from previous estimates in the 2,000 to 3,000 range. [15] Many of ISIL's new recruits came from Iraq, Syria and Tunisia. [16] At this point, ISIL's strength was increasing in Libya while simultaneously declining in Iraq and Syria. [15]
In May 2016, the Government of National Accord started a new battle to retake Sirte.
Sirte, also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups, and loyalty to Muammar Gaddafi. Also due to developments in the First Libyan Civil War, it was briefly the capital of Libya as Tripoli's successor after the Fall of Tripoli from 1 September to 20 October 2011. The settlement was established in the early 20th century by the Italians, at the site of a 19th-century fortress built by the Ottomans. It grew into a city after World War II.
Bin Jawad, also known as Bin Jawwād, Bin Quwad is a town with estimated 8,488 inhabitants in the Sirte District in Libya. It is approximately halfway between Benghazi and Misrata. The nearest settlements are Nofaliya, which about 20 km to the west, and the port of Sidra, which is about 30 km to the southeast of Bin Jawad.
Nofaliya or Nawfaliya is a town in the desert in the Sirte District of Libya. It is west of Libya's major oil ports.
Opération Harmattan was the French participation in the 2011 military intervention in Libya. It was named for the Harmattan, which are hot dry winds that blow over the Sahara, mostly between November and March. The United States' counterpart to this was Operation Odyssey Dawn, the Canadian counterpart was Operation Mobile and the British counterpart was Operation Ellamy. The no-fly zone was proposed during the Libyan Civil War to prevent government forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on anti-Gaddafi forces. Several countries prepared to take immediate military action at a conference in Paris on 19 March 2011.
Gaddafi loyalism, in a wider political and social sense also known as Green resistance, consists of sympathetic sentiment towards the overthrown government of Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed in October 2011. It has been responsible for some of the ongoing violence in Libya, though the degree of its involvement has been disputed in a number of instances.
In response to rapid territorial gains made by the so-called Islamic State during the first half of 2014, and its universally condemned executions, reported human rights abuses and the fear of further spillovers of the Syrian Civil War, many states began to intervene against it in both the Syrian Civil War and the War in Iraq. Later, there were also minor interventions by some states against IS-affiliated groups in Nigeria and Libya.
In October 2014, the self-declared Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of numerous government buildings, security vehicles and local landmarks in the Eastern Libyan coastal city of Derna. Although some media outlets reported the control as being absolute, rival groups like the al-Qaeda-affiliated Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade continued to control parts of the city. Clashes erupted between ISIL and an alliance of Islamist groups in June 2015, with ISIL retreating from Derna to outlying suburbs the following month. However, clashes continued between the Islamist alliance and the Tobruk-based government forces.
The Libyan Crisis refers to the current humanitarian crisis and political-military instability occurring in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to a civil war, foreign military intervention, and the ousting and death of Muammar Gaddafi. The 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 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, with most facilities blockaded or damaged by rival groups, despite having the largest oil reserves of any African country. On October 23, 2020, parties signed a permanent ceasefire.
The Fall of Nofaliya refers to the takeover of the town of Nofaliya in Sirte District, Libya, by the self-declared Islamic State in February 2015.
The February 2015 Egyptian airstrikes in Libya against Islamic State positions in Libya took place on 16 February 2015, and were triggered by a video released by ISIL in Libya a day earlier, depicting the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt. Within hours, the Egyptian Air Force responded with airstrikes against ISIL training camps and weapons stockpiles in retaliation for the killings. Warplanes acting under orders from the Libyan government also struck targets in Derna, reportedly in coordination with Egypt.
The Islamic State is a militant Islamist group active in Libya under three branches: Fezzan Province in the desert south, Cyrenaica Province in the east, and Tripolitania Province in the west. The branches were formed on 13 November 2014, following pledges of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by militants in Libya.
This is a detailed timeline of the Second Libyan Civil War which lasted from 2014 to 2020.
The Battle of Sirte started in the spring of 2016, in the Sirte District in Libya, between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the loyalist forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) backed by the United States. ISIL forces had captured Sirte one year earlier, during the previous battle. The conflict for Sirte was described as ISIL's "last stand" in Libya.
From November 2015 to 2019, the United States and allies carried out a large series of both airstrikes and drone strikes to invade Libya in its revived conflict in support of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord against the ISIL presence in the region. By 2019, the ISIL branch had been largely driven from holding Libyan territory, and US strikes ceased.
The Battle of Tripoli was a series of clashes in Tripoli, Libya from 27 August to 25 September 2018 during the Second Libyan Civil War. It was fought between several militias and was ended by a ceasefire.
In late January 2019, the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive to take control of the city of Sabha and the rest of southern Libya from the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) and local factions. Officially, the LNA announced that the reason for the operation was to remove terrorists, Chadian rebel groups, and to secure the border, but it has expanded Haftar's territorial control and acquired him oil fields near Sabha. It has also restarted some interethnic conflicts as the LNA has allied with local Arab tribes, while the Tuareg and Toubou tribal militias are loyal to the GNA.
The Battle of Sirte took place on January 6, 2020 during the Second Libyan Civil War. The Libyan National Army of Marshal Khalifa Haftar took the city from the forces of the Fayez el-Sarraj Government.
Ali Kanna Sulayman is a Libyan lieutenant general of Tuareg origin. He was the commander of Muammar Gaddafi's southern forces in the First Libyan Civil War. After the end of the Fezzan campaign, he fled to Agadez and helped other Gaddafi loyalists, most notably air force commander Ali Sharif Al-Rifi, escape to Niger.