Backgrounder: The Battle of Tripoli (2019)

Summary

Libya has been locked in various degrees of civil war since Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed by rebel forces in 2011.

The events leading up to Gaddafi’s death – rebellion in the east of the country and a UN-approved NATO no-fly zone turned active bombing campaign – are now viewed as a turning point in the post-Cold War international order, one where the East-West fault lines first emerged.

The war went from a cold to a hot conflict last month following the launch of a major new offensive on the capital by the Libyan National Army (LNA). The attack has thus far been repelled by the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) at a cost of over 400 deaths, 2,000 wounded, and 50,000 local residents displaced.

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