Tarhuna (/tɑːrˈhuːnə/; Arabic: ترهونة), also Tarhoona or Tarhunah, is a Libyan village 65 kilometres (40mi) to the southeast of Tripoli, in the Murqub District. The Tarhuna District, including the city of Msallata, had an urban population of about 296,000 (est. 2003). The population in Tarhuna proper was calculated to be 13,264 in 2011.[2]
Its geographical boundaries are from the Valley of the famm Molgha west to Burkaat Oueny eastward, from the Suq al Juma (Al-msab`ha) north, and Al-mzawgha and Marghna south.[3]
History
In the city centre of Tarhuna, just opposite the Tarhuna mosque, there is a memorial to Ali Swidan Alhatmy, who was a hero in the 18 June 1915 Battle of El-Shqiga against the Italians. He was captured in 1922 and hanged by the Italians in the town square.
The population generally belongs to the Tarhuna tribe, which was favoured during the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. In late August 2011 (as part of the Libyan Civil War), opposition forces from the National Liberation Amy entered Tarhuna, amidst mixed feelings from the citizens.[4]
On 23 August 2012, Interior ministry spokesman Abdelmonem al-Hur stated that more than 100 tanks and 26 rocket launchers were seized from an alleged pro-Gaddafi militia (named Katibat Al-Awfiyah, or Brigade of the Faithful), during a raid on their campsite in Tarhuna. The operation ended with one of the suspects killed, eight wounded and thirteen detainees, accused of being linked with the 19 August Tripoli bombings.[5][6][7]
According to reports in The Washington Post, Tarhuna was dominated between 2011 and 2020 by the Kani brothers and their militia, the Kaniyat. Imposing a reign of terror, the Kaniyat were allegedly responsible for hundreds of killings in the town, with the collusion of the Government of National Accord.[8] In 2019, the Kaniyat switched allegiance to the warlord Khalifa Haftar-led LNA forces during the Second Libyan Civil War, and became the LNA's stronghold in western Libya. On 18 April 2020, the forces of the UN-recognized GNA government, with the backing of Turkish drones, launched a major offensive with the aim to reclaim Tarhuna from Haftar.[9] On 5 June, it was captured by the GNA.[10] Explosive devices, landmines, and mass graves of civilians, many buried alive, were discovered in the city.[11]
During the late 1950s and into the 1960s, the RAF established a bombing range on the outskirts of the town. It was manned by RAF personnel from nearby RAF Idris and it was used by Canberra bombers from various bases in Germany. The range consisted of a main control tower with full equipment for communication with the bomber crews, at 45 degrees to the left was a quadrant tower to cross reference the plotting of the bomb hits, to convey the strike position of each bomb, and a target constructed out of 45 gallon oil drums, filled with concrete and built into a pyramid approximately 40-50 feet high and painted white. The range was used to practice the art of a new manouvre known as LABS (low altitude bombing system), where the bomb is launched in a lob towards the target, so that by the time the bomb hits the target, the aircraft has retreated at high altitude and at high speed.[citation needed]
Economy
Tarhuna is a leading producer of olive oil, cereals, figs, grapes, sparto grass, and various nuts.[citation needed]
Education
The Faculty of Law of Al Nasser University is located north of town.[12]
Many sports clubs have been founded in Tarhunah. Al-Noor School club was founded in 1960 and is currently playing in the third division Al-Shabeba Club Club Soqor Al-Sag`ya.[citation needed]
The Libyan Air Force is the branch of the Libyan Armed Forces responsible for aerial warfare. In 2010, before the Libyan Civil War, the Libyan Air Force personnel strength was estimated at 18,000, with an inventory of 374 combat-capable aircraft operating from 13 military airbases in Libya. Since the 2011 civil war and the ongoing conflict, multiple factions fighting in Libya have been in possession of military aircraft. As of 2019, the Libyan Air Force is nominally under the control of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord in Tripoli, though the rival Libyan National Army of Marshal Khalifa Haftar also has a significant air force. In 2021, the air force was under command of the new President of Libya, Mohamed al-Menfi that replaced Fayez al-Sarraj.
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.
The Libyan Armed Forces or the Libyan Arab Armed Forces are, in principle, the state organisation responsible for the military defence of Libya, including ground, air and naval forces.
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) and the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The Libyan National Army or the Libyan 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.
Gaddafi loyalism, in a wider political and social sense also known as the Green resistance, consists of sympathetic sentiment towards the overthrown government of Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed in October 2011, and his Third International Theory. Despite Muammar Gaddafi's death, his legacy and Jamahiriya ideology still maintains a popular appeal both inside and outside Libya into the present day. Regardless, the Western sentiment has largely been that this continued support may contribute to some of the ongoing violence in Libya.
The Libyan civil war (2014–2020), also more commonly known as the Second Libyan Civil War, was a multilateral civil war which was fought in Libya between 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 Libyan crisis is the current humanitarian crisis and political-military instability occurring in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to two civil wars, foreign military intervention, and the ousting and death of Muammar Gaddafi. The first 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 second war lasted until October 23, 2020, when all parties agreed to a permanent ceasefire and negotiations.
al-Watiya Air Base also known as Okba Ibn Nafa Air Base is a military airport in the Nuqat al Khams district of western Libya. It was named after Uqba ibn Nafi, the Islamic general who conquered North Africa. It is 27 kilometres (17 mi) east of the Tunisian border and 125 kilometres (78 mi) from Tripoli.
The Government of National Accord was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. The agreement was unanimously endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, which welcomed the formation of a Presidency Council for Libya and recognized the Government of National Accord as the sole legitimate executive authority in Libya. On 31 December 2015, Chairman of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh Issa declared his support for the Libyan Political Agreement. The General National Congress has criticized the GNA on multiple fronts as biased in favor of its rival parliament the House of Representatives.
This is a detailed timeline of the Libyan civil war (2014–2020) which lasted from 2014 to 2020.
Clashes occurred in western Libya since 14 October 2016, when a coup d'état attempt was conducted by the former head of the National Salvation Government (GNS), Khalifa al-Ghawil, against Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA). This evolved into fighting between the GNA and GNS for control of Tripoli and parts of western Libya, while pro-GNA militias also attacked other militias for control of the region.
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 Western Libya campaign was a military campaign initiated on 4 April 2019 by the Operation Flood of Dignity of the Libyan National Army, 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. The Government of National Accord regained control over all of Tripoli in June 2020 and the LNA forces withdrew from the capital, after fourteen months of fighting.
This is the order of battle for the Western Libya campaign, codenamed "Operation Flood of Dignity" by forces under Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The forces supporting Haftar and the House of Representatives, mainly the Libyan National Army, are opposed by the armed forces of the forces loyal to the Government of National Accord, including the Libyan Army and the Tripoli Protection Force.
Events in Libya in 2020
The Central Libya offensive, officially known as Operation Paths to Victory, was a military offensive in Libya launched by the forces of the Government of National Accord, to take the city of Sirte and Al Jufra Airbase from the House of Representatives backed by the Libyan National Army. The city of Sirte is considered strategically important because of its close position to oil facilities, which give it control over Libya's oil and gas shipping ports. The Al Jufra Airbase is strategically important for the GNA, due to its central position to Fezzan and denying the Libyan National Army air superiority over Central Libya.
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.
Operation Volcano of Anger, alternatively known as Operation Volcano of Rage, was a military resistance campaign launched by the Government of National Accord in Libya to counter the advances of the Libyan National Army led by General Khalifa Haftar. The conflict, which began in April 2019, had witnessed intense fighting around the capital city, Tripoli, and other strategic locations in the country.
The Battle of Al-Watiya Airbase in 2020 marked a crucial turning point in the Second Libyan Civil War, as Government of National Accord (GNA) forces sought to reclaim control from the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar.
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Libya 
