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  • In October 2011, during the Arab Spring, Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed by anti-Gaddafi

  • forces. This officially liberated the country, but the fighting didn’t end. And now, almost

  • 3 years later, the violence may be getting worse. The US has closed its embassy there,

  • and just this week, the United Arab Emirates, along with help from Egypt, conducted secret

  • airstrikes inside the country. So, what is currently going on in Libya, and who’s on

  • which side?

  • Well, the fighters in this conflict generally fall into two groups: those who want a democratically

  • elected central government, and those who oppose that idea. Which seems to imply that

  • there is a unified central government in Libya, when in reality, there isn’t.

  • As of August 25th, The Central Government itself is currently in flux. And this is nothing

  • new for Libya; since 2011, the country has had three different governmental structures.

  • They were initially run by the National Transitional Council. This is the group that defeated Gaddafi,

  • and controlled the country until elections could be established. Then, after the 2012

  • elections, power was handed over to the General National Congress. This was established by

  • popular vote and highly influenced by The Muslim Brotherhood. After an 18 month period,

  • the General National Congress was unable to establish a constitution or a stable leadership,

  • so in the following elections, held this June, the people voted to replace the General National

  • Congress with a new government body called the House Of Representatives. As of August

  • 25th, this was the new central Government in LibyaBut the General National Congress

  • has refused to recognize it, so there may soon be two separate parliaments and two separate

  • Prime Ministers vying for power in Libya.

  • On top of all of this, most of the Central Government’s military forces are led by

  • General Khalifa Haftar (Ca-LEE-fa HAFF-tar). They mostly operate outside of governmental

  • control and may have recently organized a failed military coup. In short, it’s a mess.

  • But it’s still better organized than the last group were going to discuss.

  • Libya is rife with Islamic Militant groups, regional militias, and foreign terrorist networks,

  • all of which are fighting for control of different parts of the country. They sometimes unite

  • for larger operations, like their recent takeover of a major airport in Tripoli, but they all

  • have their own leadership and allegiances.

  • That is the general state of things in Libya. And with all of that said, you may still be

  • wondering on which side Egypt and the United Arab Emirates fall.

  • Well, the new Egyptian Government, The United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have been

  • very active in the region recently, trying to combat the rising tide of Islamic Fundamentalism.

  • Currently, their policy is to stay out of disputes inside the Libyan government, but

  • theyre more than open to fighting against anti-government fundamentalist groups, who

  • they see as a threat to the stability of their own countries. Which explains why theyre

  • carrying out airstrikes in Tripoli. They aren’t fighting the Libyan Government or General

  • Haftar’s troops; theyre fighting fundamentalist forces for their own purposes.

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In October 2011, during the Arab Spring, Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed by anti-Gaddafi

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