Libyan National Liberation Army

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LibyaLibya Libyan National Liberation Army
جيش التحرير الوطني الليبي
LibyaLibya
guide
Commander in Chief : National Transitional Council
Military Commander: Suleiman Mahmoud al-Obeidi
Headquarters: Benghazi
Military strength
Active soldiers: approx. 17,000
Conscription: Not known
Resilient population: Not known
Eligibility for military service: Not known
history
Factual foundation: May 2011

The Libyan National Liberation Army ( Arabic جيش التحرير الوطني الليبيي Jaish at-tahrir al-watani al-libi , DMG Ǧaiš at-taḥrīr al-waṭanī al-lībī , English Libyan National Liberation Army [NLA]) was a military organization that emerged during the Libyan civil war . It was set up by the Executive Council established by the National Transitional Council . Since the temporary end of the civil war, the new defense minister Usama al-Juwaili has worked to integrate the individual revolutionary brigades into the regular armed forces , the police and other institutions of the new government. This largely failed. His successors Mohammed Barghathi and Abdullah Al-Thinni were also unable to restore order. On the contrary, the situation finally escalated in summer 2014 with the outbreak of the Second Libyan Civil War .

Members

The rebel army consists of deserted soldiers from the Libyan army and volunteers. Since the formation of brigades, fighters have been wearing identification tags that are linked to the numbers painted on their weapons. Weapons from "unreliable" rebels were confiscated by their own commanders.

Guided tour in spring 2011

Previous commanders in chief

  • April – July 2011: Major General Abd al-Fattah Yunis , Chief of Staff was Omar El-Hariri
  • since July 2011: Suleiman Mahmoud al-Obeidi, Chief of Staff since November 17, 2011: Major General Khalifa Belqasim Haftar

Brigades

There are no reliable estimates of the overall strength of the military. Training camps were set up in Benghazi , Al-Baida and Ajdabiya , where thousands of men received military training. On April 18, 2011, brigades were formed by the Transitional Council. Every soldier has a paper or plastic ID with name, photo, name of the brigade and blood type.

Omar Mukhtar Brigade

The Omar Mukhtar Brigade is fighting in Ajdabiya. Their fighters come mainly from Ajdabiya, Benghazi and Derna . According to the company, the “brigade” consists of around 200 soldiers and 10 vehicles. It is named after the Libyan national hero Umar al-Muchtar .

These units were commanded by Abdul Monem Mukhtar Mohammed , a member of the Libyan Islamic Combat Group , until his death on April 15, 2011 . According to the Los Angeles Times , he is said to have had earlier contact with Osama bin Laden . He is currently represented by Abduljawad al-Bedin .

Ali-Hassan-al-Jaber Brigade

The Ali-Hassan-al-Jaber Brigade is stationed in Al-Baida. It was named after a killed cameraman who worked for Al Jazeera .

The American documentary filmmaker and activist Matthew VanDyke also joined the Ali Hassan al Jaber Brigade in August 2011 .

Zintan Brigades

The brigades from Sintan , southwest of Tripoli, were led by Usama al-Juwaili and Abdullah Naker . They played a major role in the capture of the capital and in fighting in other parts of the country. The unit led by al-Juwaili arrested Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi , the son of Muammar al-Gaddafi , on November 19, 2011 . Al-Juwaili became defense minister under Abdel Rahim el-Kib , while Naker is chairman of the Tripoli Revolutionary Council and announced the formation of a party. Units from Sintan have been controlling Tripoli International Airport since the end of the civil war and are still armed as a militia.

Other brigades

  • Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade - radical Islamist militia believed to be implicated in the murder of Abdul Fatah Younis on July 28, 2011.
  • Okbah Ibn Nafih Brigade - radical Islamist militia
  • Jabal Martyrs Brigade - based in Al-Baida, consists of 125 forces
  • Martyrs of Abu Salim - stationed in Al-Baida
  • Zawiya Brigade - stationed in the Nafusa Mountains, trained to take Zawiya
  • Shaheed Brigade - stationed in and around Misrata , considered an elite unit within the rebel army
  • Misrata Brigade - originally stationed in Misrata, since August in Tripoli
  • Black Brigade - stationed in and around Misrata
  • February 17th Martyrs Brigade - stationed in and around Benghazi
  • Swehdi Brigade - stationed in and around Misrata
  • Al Horia Brigade - stationed in and around Misrata, garrison in Taworgha
  • Faisal Brigade - stationed in the suburbs of Zliten
  • Arise Brigade - stationed along the Via Balbia between Misrata and Tripoli
  • Tripoli Brigade - originally stationed in Nalut in the Nafusa Mountains, strength of 1300 rebels, is considered the elite of the rebel army and was trained to conquer Tripoli. The brigade has been stationed in Tripoli since the city was captured.
  • Abu Salim Brigade - Eastern Libya
  • Sabratha Brigade - Nafusa Mountains, training to take Sabratha
  • Zuwarah Brigade - Nafusa Mountains, training to capture Zuwarah
  • Martyr Wasam Qaliyah Brigade - Western Libya, consists of up to 300 fighters
  • Coastal Brigade - stationed along the Via Balbia between Zawiya and Tripoli
  • Nalut Brigade - stationed in Nalut and responsible for the Nafusa Mountains
  • Kabaw Brigade - stationed in the Nafusa Mountains, taking Tiji and Badr
  • Jadu Brigade - based in Jadu, consists of 300 rebels
  • 28 May Brigade - stationed around Tripoli, consisting of members of the Warfalla-tribe and to the conquest of Bani Walid formed
  • Victory Unit - stationed along the road between Misrata and Bani Walid
  • Sabbha Brigade - in Fezzan stationed

Composition of the organization

As in the case of the other revolutions in the region , the opposition and the resistance forces against the old regimes are extremely heterogeneous, as the political scientist and Libya expert Paul Sullivan of the University of Georgetown points out that it is naive to see the rebels as one To glorify democracy movement. Since the country's society is a tribal society, there are many indications that parts of the movement are tribes and clans who are interested in expanding their own position of power and a tribalist appropriation policy, because the conflict between the tribes in the East and West is one of the reasons for the civil war . A study by the West Point Military Academy points to a strong anti-American and anti-Western character of the resistance forces, especially from the east. Eastern Libya was the second recruiting area for Al-Qaeda after Saudi Arabia , and fundamentalist forces were present among the rebels.

The sociologist and educational scientist Hartmut Krauss sees the civil war as being controlled by extreme forces and points to the radicalization potential for Islamists through Gaddafi's role as a self-proclaimed reformer, since Gaddafi fell out with the ulema in the 1980s and had all mosques placed under his control 1989 had militant Islamists fight militants and created an idiosyncratic conception of an “Islamic system” with his green book , Islamists would regard him as a heretical ruler and fight Gaddafi for the establishment of an “upright order”. Krauss continues to believe that the reactivation of tribal rivalries, which Gaddafi exploited according to the principle of “divide and rule”, was ultimately fatal for him. Hartmut Krauss suspects revenge as a serious motive for the uprising. He described the composition of the rebels as a mixture of Islamist rioters, renegades from the military and the political functional elite, vengeful tribes and clans, pro-Western exile and royalist fighters and a "grassroots army, which consists of young men with no prospects who are employed in combat for to meet".

International military aid

  • United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates - The United Arab Emirates supplied Belgian FN FAL assault rifles to the rebels .
  • EgyptEgypt Egypt - Egypt supplied the rebels with small arms such as assault rifles and ammunition.
  • FranceFrance France - France confirmed the delivery of weapons (rocket launchers, anti-tank MILAN , small arms ) and ammunition to rebels in the Nafusa Mountains.
  • QatarQatar Qatar - Qatar is supporting the rebels by supplying various weapons such as MILAN systems and AK-47 assault rifles. It is estimated that at least 400 such rifles were handed over to the rebels. Qatar also supplied camouflage clothing and ballistic vests to the rebels.
  • United StatesUnited States United States - The United States is supporting the Libyan rebels with supplies valued at $ 25 million. According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , care is taken to ensure that no weapons are delivered.
  • United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom - The United Kingdom provided communications equipment and bulletproof vests to the rebel army.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Libya to include rebels in military from January Reuters on December 26, 2011.
  2. ^ Libya Herald, August 6, 2013
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Libyan rebels get organized , Al Jazeera (English)
  4. ↑ Rebel commander says his forces need arms , Al Jazeera (English)
  5. ↑ Libyan rebel leader spent much of past 20 years in suburban Virginia ( Memento from January 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), macclatchy.com (English)
  6. ↑ Bahrampour, Tara: Strife among rebel leaders , In: Washington Post, April 3, 2011, accessed April 19, 2011.
  7. ↑ a b The colonel fights back In: The Economist (English)
  8. ↑ a b c The absurd war in Libya , heise.de
  9. ↑ a b Libya’s anti-Gaddafi rebels gather sparse forces for battles ahead , guardian.co.uk (English)
  10. ↑ Rebel-hero Libyan city pounded , Al Jazeera (English)
  11. ↑ Rebels, Gaddafi forces skirmish over "ghost town" , Reuters Africa (English)
  12. ↑ Only a few of Libya's opposition military leaders have been publicly Identified In: The Washington Post (English)
  13. ↑ Parker, Ned: Libyan rebel's story shows links to Taliban, Al Qaeda, NATO , Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2011, accessed April 19, 2011
  14. ↑ Gaddafi son capturer Osama al-Juwali appointed Libya Defense Minister. In: panarmenian.net. November 22, 2011, accessed January 27, 2012 .
  15. ↑ derwesten.de
  16. ↑ zurück- verlag.de ( Memento from February 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ↑ a b David Jolly, Fahim Kareem: France Admits Arming Libyan Rebels. In: The New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2011 .
  18. ^ Charles Levinson: Egypt Said to Arm Libya Rebels. In: The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 17, 2011 .
  19. ↑ europe1.fr
  20. ↑ 20minutes.fr
  21. ↑ CJ Chivers: Inferior Arms Hobble Rebels in Libya War. In: The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2011 .
  22. ↑ Clinton recommends $ 25 million US aid to Libyan rebels. In: Reuters. Retrieved April 20, 2011 .