Mutassim Billah Gaddafi was a Libyan Army officer,and the National Security Advisor of Libya from 2008 until 2011. He was the fourth son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi,and a member of his father's inner circle. His mother was Safia Farkash,who was said to be a Hungarian from Bosnia &Herzegovina. He was captured during the Battle of Sirte by anti-Gaddafi forces,and killed along with his father. He allegedly had a child with model Lisa van Goinga.
The First Libyan Civil War was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. It erupted with the Libyan Revolution,also known as the 17 February Revolution. The war was preceded by protests in Zawiya on 8 August 2009 and finally ignited by protests in Benghazi beginning on Tuesday,15 February 2011,which led to clashes with security forces who fired on the crowd. The protests escalated into a rebellion that spread across the country,with the forces opposing Gaddafi establishing an interim governing body,the National Transitional Council.
The National Liberation Army,officially the National Liberation Armed Forces of the Free Libyan Republic,formerly known as the Free Libyan Army,was a Libyan military organisation affiliated with the National Transitional Council,which was constituted during the First Libyan Civil War by defected military members and civilian volunteers,in order to engage in battle against both remaining members of the Libyan Armed Forces and paramilitia loyal to the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. It had prepared for some time in portions of Eastern Libya controlled by the anti-Gaddafi forces for eventual full-on combat in Western Libya against pro-Gaddafi militants,training many men before beginning to go on the offensive. They have battled for control of Benghazi,Misrata,Brega,Ajdabiya,Zawiya and Ra's Lanuf as well as several towns in the Nafusa Mountains. They finally began the Battle for Tripoli in August 2011 when they attacked from the west of the city,as well as fomenting an internal uprising on 20 August.
The foreign relations of Libya were largely reset at the end of the Libyan Civil War,with the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi and the Second Libyan Civil War. The current Minister of Foreign Affairs since 15 March 2021 is Najla Mangoush. Although many foreign embassies in Tripoli closed down in 2014 due to the fighting,by the end of 2017 thirty diplomatic missions were reopened in the Libyan capital.
The Tripoli Revolutionaries Brigade or Free Tripoli Guardian was a unit of the National Liberation Army of Libya created during the Libyan Civil War that merged into the Tripoli Protection Force. Originally formed in April 2011 in the opposition stronghold of Benghazi,it later relocated to the Nafusa Mountains,then the closest frontline to Tripoli,before advancing into the city itself in August.
Abdelhakim Belhaj is a Libyan politician and military leader. He is the leader of the Islamist al-Watan Party and former head of the Tripoli Military Council. He was the emir of the defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group,an anti-Gaddafi guerrilla group.
Major General Osama al-Juwaili is a Libyan military officer who served as Minister of Defence in the government of Abdurrahim El-Keib,Libya's interim Prime Minister. Since the formation of the Government of National Accord (GNA) in 2015,al-Juwaili served it as a senior commander,since 2017 being the commander of the Western Military Zone. On 6 April 2019 he became the commander of the joint operations room,created by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj to coordinate military operations since the start of the 2019 Western Libya offensive.
The Libyan Army is the brand for a number of separate military forces in Libya,which were under the command of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).
The Libyan National Army or the Libyan National Arab Army is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar when he was nominated to the role on 2 March 2015 by the House of Representatives,consisting at the time of a ground force,an air force and a navy.
The al-Tawhid Brigade,named after Tawhid,the "oneness of God," was an armed Islamist insurgent group involved in the Syrian Civil War.
Liwaa al-Umma was a Salafi jihadist group fighting against the Syrian government in the Syrian Civil War. The group was founded by Mahdi Al-Harati,an Irish-Libyan who led the Libyan rebel Tripoli Brigade during the Battle of Tripoli. Harati stepped down as the group's leader after six months,leaving Syrians in charge. In September 2012,it aligned itself with the Free Syrian Army.
The Suqour al-Sham Brigades,also known as the Sham Falcons Brigades,is an armed rebel organisation formed by Ahmed Abu Issa early in the Syrian Civil War to fight against the Syrian Government. It was a member of the Islamic Front and a former unit of the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front. They have a history of coordinating with Ahrar al-Sham and al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front,though clashes with the latter broke out in January 2017. In March 2015,the Suqour al-Sham Brigades merged with Ahrar ash-Sham,but left Ahrar al-Sham in September 2016. Also,in September 2016,they joined the Army of Conquest which Ahrar al-Sham is also a member. On 25 January 2017,Suqour al-Sham rejoined Ahrar al-Sham,but later became independent.
The Supreme Military Council (SMC) was the highest military leadership of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) from late 2012 to at least mid-2014. The establishment of the organisation was announced on 7 December 2012 with the backing of western and Arab powers as a means of financing and arming Syrian rebel forces.
The Sham Legion is an alliance of Sunni Islamist rebel groups formed in March 2014,during the Syrian Civil War. The alliance was formed from 19 different groups,some of which were previously affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria and the Shields of the Revolution Council.
The Second Libyan Civil War was a multilateral civil war that lasted from 2014 to 2020 in the North African country of Libya fought between different armed groups,mainly the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Government of National Accord.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are engaged in an ongoing struggle for influence in the Middle East and other Muslim regions. The two countries have provided varying degrees of support to opposing sides in nearby conflicts,including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen;and disputes in Bahrain,Lebanon,Qatar,and Iraq. It also extends to disputes or broader competition in other countries globally including in West Africa,North and East Africa,South Asia,Central Asia,Southeast Asia,the Balkans,and the Caucasus.
Ismail al-Salabi is a Libyan citizen and Islamist militant leader who has deep rooted ties to the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood. He was the commander of the rebel forces in Benghazi under the 17 February Brigade.
The Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomatic conflict refers to the ongoing struggle for regional influence between Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA),both of which are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It is sometimes called the New Arab Cold War. Bilateral relations are especially strained since the beginning of the Arab Spring,that left a power vacuum both states sought to fill,with Qatar being supportive of the revolutionary wave and Saudi Arabia opposing it. Both states are allies of the United States,and have avoided direct conflict with one another.
National Transitional Council (2011)
Syrian National Council (2012)
