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Gulf of Sidra Offensive (2018) | |||||||||
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Map showing the offensive | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Benghazi Defense Brigades [1] | |||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Ibrahim Jadhran [1] | Khalifa Haftar | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
Less than 1,000 [3] | unknown | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
unknown | 15 killed 25 wounded [2] |
The Gulf of Sidra Offensive was an offensive of the Second Libyan Civil War. It was launched by the Benghazi Defense Brigades on 11 June 2018, [1] and was fought concurrently with the Battle of Derna. On the first day, the Benghazi Defense Brigades captured Ras Lanuf and Sidra, before the Libyan National Army (LNA) started a counteroffensive on 17 June. [4] On 21 June, The LNA captured Ras Lanuf and Al Sidra. [5] Hours later, the Benghazi Defense Brigades claimed recapturing these cities once again, [6] [7] but the LNA denied these claims, releasing pictures showing their soldiers within Sidra and Ras Lanuf. [8]
The Union of Resistance Forces is an alliance of Chadian rebel groups.
Sidra or Sidr is a port about 23 km west of Ra's Lanuf in Libya. It is Libya's largest oil depot, shipping about 447,000 barrels per day (71,100 m3/d), and during the Cold War gave its name to the 'Gulf of Sidra', an alternative name for the Gulf of Sirte. Sidra Airport is located directly next to the port.
Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Omar Haftar is a Libyan politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA). On 2 March 2015, he was appointed commander of the Armed forces loyal to the elected legislative body, the Libyan House of Representatives.
Ibrahim Jadran is a self imposed Libyan militia leader from Ajdabiya in eastern Libya. Born 1981 in Ajdabiya as the son of Sayyid Jidran, Ibrahim was arrested in February 2005 for organizing an armed group to oust Muammar al-Qaddafi. After spending six years in Libya's Abu Salim prison with his four brothers, he was released from prison in 2011 and subsequently participated as a rebel commander in the 2011 Libyan revolution.
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 Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries was a military coalition in Benghazi, Libya, composed of Islamist and jihadist militias, including Ansar al-Sharia, Libya Shield 1, and several other groups.
This is a detailed timeline of the Libyan civil war (2014–2020) which lasted from 2014 to 2020.
The Battle of Benghazi (2014–2017) was a major battle of the Second Libyan Civil War that raged from October 2014 to December 2017, between the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Libya, and the Libyan National Army (LNA), and paramilitaries supporting the LNA in the city. The battle was a direct consequence of the failed Benina Airport Offensive by the Benghazi Revolutionaries and their allies, which allowed LNA forces to regroup and attack deep into Benghazi.
The Gulf of Sidra Offensive was an offensive of the Second Libyan Civil War. It was launched by the Benghazi Defense Brigades on 3 March 2017, and initially resulted in them taking control of a strip of coastal territory between the towns of Nofaliya and Ras Lanuf, which was then handed over to the Government of National Accord. A number of significant oil ports are located in this area, sometimes referred to as the Oil Crescent. The loss of the Oil Crescent was perceived by analysts as a major blow to the power of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The Battle of Derna was a military campaign by the Libyan National Army to recapture the city of Derna from the Shura Council of Mujahideen in Derna, which lasted from 7 May 2018 until 12 February 2019. The majority of military operations concluded by 28 June 2018, with the Libyan National Army declaring control of the entire city on that day, despite continued clashes in the old city. During the early stages of the battle, the Shura Council was dissolved and replaced with the Derna Protection Force, which continued operations after the LNA declared victory in June 2018, before surrendering at the end of the battle.
The Petroleum Facilities Guard is a Libyan oil company and militia led by Idris Bukhamada. Established in October 2012, it took control of the main oil export terminals in eastern Libya in the summer of 2013 and starting in March 2014 attempted to sell oil. In 2014, Ibrahim Jadhran ousted Idris Bukhamada, and became the new leader of the PFG. Despite initially allying himself with Khalifa Haftar, this alliance would later sour and lead to Jadhran accusing the LNA of trying to assassinate him in September 2015.
The Derna Protection Force, also known as the Derna Security Force, was a Libyan militia formed by Ateyah Al-Shaari on 11 May 2018, during the Libyan National Army (LNA) assault on Derna.
The Battle of Saddada Castle was fought between the Libyan National Army, and the Sirte Protection Force and the Benghazi Defense Brigades on 19 December 2018, which took place in Saddada Castle, between Misrata and Bani Walid. After brief clashes inside the castle, the LNA captured the site. The Sirte Protection Force denied losing the town.
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 secure the border, but it expanded Haftar's territorial control and acquired him oil fields near Sabha. It also restarted some interethnic conflicts as the LNA had allied with local Arab tribes, while the Tuareg and Toubou tribal militias were loyal to the GNA.
The Western Libya campaign was a military campaign initiated on 4 April 2019 by the Operation Flood of Dignity 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 rank of field marshal is a five-star rank in the current Libyan military, the Libyan National Army (LNA). General Khalifa Haftar, commander of the LNA since 2 March 2015, was promoted to the rank of field marshal on 14 September 2016 by the decision of the House of Representatives (HoR), a partially recognized legislature located in the city of Tobruk, in the eastern Libyan region of Cyrenaica.
The Battle of Sabha was a military confrontation in Sabha from 15 January to 4 February 2019 between the Libyan National Army (LNA) and the Government of National Accord (GNA) during the Southern Libya offensive of the Second Libyan Civil War.
Tariq Ben Zeyad Brigade is a militant organization led by Saddam Haftar, son of Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar. It has been accused of crushing any opposition to his father's LNA since its emergence in 2016. In December 2022, Saddam's Tariq Ben Zeyad Brigade was accused by the Amnesty International of committing war crimes.
The Wagner Group, also known as PMC Wagner, a Russian paramilitary organization also described as a private military company (PMC), a network of mercenaries, and a de facto unit of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) or Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, has conducted operations in Libya since late 2018.
The Battle of Gharyan, which unfolded from April 2019 to June 2019, was a significant conflict in the ongoing struggle for control in Libya. The opposing forces were the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by General Khalifa Haftar, and the Government of National Accord (GNA), headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.