The Libyan Army is the land warfare branch of the military of Libya, which since December 2015 has been nominally subordinated to the internationally recognised Government of National Accord based in Tripoli. Due to the instability in the country in 2011 civil war and the outbreak of a new conflict in 2014, the Libyan ground forces remain structurally divided, with components constituting the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army under the command of Khalifa Haftar. The forces loyal to the GNA have been fighting against various other factions in Libya, including the Islamic State. Some efforts have been made to create a truly national army, but most of the forces under the Tripoli government's command consist of various militia groups, such as the Tripoli Protection Force, and local factions from cities like Misrata and Zintan.
Since the establishment of the Government of National Accord in 2016 clashes continued to occur between different factions in Tripoli nominally loyal to the new UN-backed unity government, leaving hundreds dead. Khalifa al-Ghawil proclaimed the creation of a new government consisting of the former General National Congress. Elements of the Presidential Guard defected to the rebels and took over key buildings in the capital. Pro-GNA forces eventually were able to defeat the GNC coup attempt. Around mid-2017, militias allied to the GNA fully secured the capital. In August 2018 fighting broke out between different groups in Tripoli that were all nominally subordinated to the GNA's defense ministry, forcing Prime Minister Sarraj to call in other militias from different towns outside the capital. A unit called the 7th Brigade had rebelled, leading to its dissolution.
2019
On 6 April 2019, a joint operations room was formed in response to Khalifa Haftar's attack on Tripoli to coordinate their military forces. It is led by Western military zone commander Osama al-Juwaili and includes the heads of the Tripoli and Central military zones, the Counter-Terrorism Force, and representatives from the Presidential Guard and Military Intelligence Bureau. In response to a common interest in defending Tripoli against the LNA, the armed militias that in mid 2019 composed the armed forces of the GNA coordinated with one another mainly by agreement among armed group commanders rather than by the official command structure. The militias remained mostly autonomous in decision-making while formally being integrated into the GNA chain of command. Lacher Wolfram, writing in a Security Assessment in North Africa publication, described this as "bottom-up integration" and a "remarkable development" that "could potentially serve as a starting point for the creation of properly integrated forces... loyalty to a unified command structure".
Military zones
On 1 June 2017, the GNA announced the creation of seven military zones throughout Libya. They include Tripoli, Benghazi, Tobruk, Sabha, Kufra, Central, and Western . The commanders of each zone were responsible for training and preparation of the forces in their area and answered to the Libyan army chief of staff. Not all of the territories accounted for were under the GNA's control at the time. The leaders of the military zones are as follows.
Omar Mukhtar force: 2000 Syrian National Army mercenaries funded at per month arriving in December 2019/January 2020; 650 arrived in Libya by 29 December and deployed to frontline positions in East Tripoli.
Turkish military advisory personnel: 35 as of 2020
The other major military force in Libya is the Libyan National Army, which in 2014 evolved from what was originally called the LNA in 2011 following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. In 2014, the LNA came under the control of Marshal Khalifa Haftar and the House of Representatives, whose geographical location is in the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk. In April 2019, after months of negotiations failing to bring about a reconciliation between the two rival governments, the LNA and the GNA's forces entered into open hostilities in the Tripoli region with Haftar launching an offensive on the capital.
