The original Libyan Armed Forces () under the Kingdom of Libya of King Idris I was trained by the United Kingdom and the United States. Since Muammar Gaddafi rose to power in 1969, Libya received military assistance from the Soviet Union. The Libyan military fought in several wars, including the Libyan–Egyptian War (1977) and the Chadian–Libyan conflict (1978–1987).
The armed forces dissolved in the course of the Libyan civil war (2011), and after a second civil war, armed groups in Libya were divided between west and east. The Government of National Accord's Libyan Army is a collection of militias around Tripoli. In the east after Khalifa Haftar was appointed in 2015 by the Libyan parliament in Tobruk as the supreme commander, many militias in the eastern part of Libya came under his command as the "Libyan National Army" (LNA). (). , the regular core of the LNA (about soldiers) was complemented by Salafist militias and foreign mercenaries (about soldiers).
, the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) retained formal control of the militias nominally constituting the Libyan Army, while the Libyan Air Force was split into LNA and GNA controlled components. The naval and coast guard forces were mostly under GNA control. with some coastal patrol boats under LNA control. In 2021, armed groups in Libya were split between the Government of National Unity under the new President of Libya, Mohamed al-Menfi, and Haftar's forces in the East.
History
Kingdom of Libya (1951–1969) The roots of the Libyan armed forces can be traced to the Libyan Arab Force (popularly known as the Sanusi Army) of World War II. Shortly after Italy entered the war, a number of Libyan leaders living in exile in Egypt called on their compatriots to organise themselves into military units and join the British in the war against the Axis powers. Five battalions, which were initially designed for guerrilla warfare in the Jabal al Akhdar region of Cyrenaica, were established under British command. Because the high mobility of the desert campaigns required a considerable degree of technical and mechanical expertise, the Libyan forces were used primarily as auxiliaries, guarding military installations and prisoners. One battalion, however, participated in the fighting at Tobruk.
After Britain succeeded in occupying the Libyan territories, the need for the British-trained and equipped Sanusi troops appeared to be over. The Sanusi Army was reluctant to disband, however, and the majority of its members arranged to be transferred to the local police force in Cyrenaica under the British military administration.
The United Kingdom of Libya officially gained its independence from Italy on 24 December 1951. Libya (1951-present). University of Central Arkansas. The Libyan government signed a 20-year military agreement with the British government on 26 July 1953. The kingdom was later renamed as the Kingdom of Libya in 1963.
Under the Libyan monarchy, there existed a federal army and local provincial police forces. The U.S. State Department reported in 1957 that the army numbered 1,835 men, while the police forces had around 5,000–6,000. King Idris of Libya and his government relied on the police for internal security and were anxious to increase the size of the national army to 5,000 troops.
When Libya gained its independence in 1951, veterans of the original Sanusi Army formed the nucleus of the Royal Libyan Army. British Army troops, part of Middle East Command and comprising 25th Armoured Brigade and briefly 10th Armoured Division, were still present after independence. Most British forces were withdrawn by 1966.See "Britain, Libya and the Suez Crisis", Journal of Strategic Studies, April 2007. Despite the Sanussi lineage of the new army, King Idris I quickly came to distrust them. The Free Officers' coup of 1952 in Egypt led many Libyan officers to be disenchanted with Idris and become great followers of Gamal Abdel Nasser. This situation reached the stage that the British Army officers retained by Idris to train and advise the new armed forces deemed the force entirely untrustworthy. They increasingly saw their role as to watch the army rather than to raise its effectiveness.
The United States also contributed to training a 1,035-man contingent and in June 1957 considered taking responsibility for training the entire army.Shaloff, Stanley, and Glennon, John P. (1989). 173. National Security Council Report (U.S. POLICY TOWARD LIBYA). Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Africa, Volume XVIII. Report originally published 29 June 1957.
Meanwhile, Idris formed a navy in 1962 and an air force in 1963. In May 1957 the U.S. had agreed to supply Libya with 10 Northrop F-5s. He attempted to counter his growing doubts about the loyalty of the army by stripping it of potential. He placed loyal but often unqualified Cyrenaicans in all senior command positions, limited the armed forces to 6,500 men, kept the army lightly armed, and built up two rival paramilitary units, the National Security Force and the Cyrenaican Defence Force which was recruited from Cyrenaican Bedouin loyal to the Sanussi.In 1952 the CDF had 600 personnel organised as a personal bodyguard for the Emir. By 1969 the force had 6,000 personnel, organised into battalions. , accessed June 2011. See also Mattes, H. (1985) Von der Prätorianergarde König Idris I. zum Konzept des bewaffneten Volkes. Ein Beitrag zur Militärgeschichte Libyens. In Orient. 26(4): 523–548. Together the two forces had a total of 14,000 men armed with helicopters, armoured cars, anti-tank weapons, and artillery.
These measures did not prevent, however, a group of army officers led by then Captain Muammar Gaddafi (a signals officer) seizing power on 1 September 1969. Pollack says that the defeat of the Arabs during the Six-Day War of July 1967 was an important factor in the coup, as the officers believed that Libya should have dispatched forces to aid Egypt and the other Arab states. Idris had also tried to reform the military, but only half-heartedly, further frustrating young Libyan officers. Gaddafi's coup was only one of several being planned by various groups within the armed forces.
Gaddafi's period of rule (1969–2011) Immediately after the coup, Muammar Gaddafi began to dismiss, arrest, or execute every officer above the rank of colonel in the armed forces, as well as some other lower-ranking officers closely linked to the monarchy. Then he began to reorganise the armed forces in line with his foreign policy plans.Pollack, 2002, p. 360. Expansion of the army and amalgamation of the CDF and NSF into the army was the first priority, and by 1970 the force numbered nearly 20,000. Attention was also focused on the Air Force, with the pre-coup strength of 400 personnel and ten Northrop F-5 "Freedom Fighter" jet fighters planned to be supplemented with large-scale purchases of Mirage III fighters from France.
Libya dispatched a contingent to the Arab Deterrent Force in Lebanon in 1976 as the Lebanese Civil War escalated.Britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/31428/Arab-Deterrent-Force In the spring of 1979, after the Arab League had extended the mandate of the Arab Deterrent Force, the Sudanese, the Saudis and the UAE troops departed Lebanon, the Libyan troops were essentially abandoned and had to find their own way home, if at all.
The new Libyan Army under Gaddafi's Libyan Arab Republic fought a short border war with Egypt in July 1977, and sent several thousand troops to support Idi Amin during the Uganda–Tanzania War in 1972 and again in 1978.
From the late 1970s to around 1987, Gaddafi escalated the Chadian–Libyan conflict with four major incursions into Chad. Libya temporarily seized the Aouzou Strip. The Libyan Army suffered great losses in these conflicts, especially that of the Toyota War of 1987, largely due to poor tactics and Western aid to Chad. All of these incursions were eventually repulsed.
In 1997 the IISS listed seven military regions as part of the Armed Forces.IISS Military Balance 1997, p.133. These regions appear to have included the Western Military Region (Tripoli), the Middle Military Region (Sirte), the Eastern Military Region (Tobruk), the Mountain Military Region (Gharyan), and regions headquartered at Kufra and Benghazi.Jane's World Armies, March 2011. The final military region appears to have been the Southern Military Region headquartered at Sabha in the southeast.
In October 1993, senior military officers from the Warfalla tribe attempted to depose Gaddafi from power. The coup was led by Khalifa Haftar, a leading senior officer, who later defected during the coup. The result was the execution of many senior officers and the installment of loyal members.
A military parade of African and Libyan troops took place on Green Square on 1 September 2009. This marked the first day of celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Libyan Revolution.
In November 2010, before the revolt against Gaddahi began, the total number of Libyan armed forces personnel was estimated at 76,000.IISS Military Balance 2011, p. 320. It was estimated that there were an additional 40,000 People's Militia. There was no separate defence ministry; all defence activities were centralised under Muammar Gaddafi. There was a High Command of the Armed Forces (al-Qiyada al-ulya lil-quwwat al-musallaha). Arms production was limited and manufacturers were state-owned. Colonel Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr was the last minister of defence of the Gaddafi-era military.
The Libyan army was estimated to have 50,000 total troops as of 2009;IISS, The Military Balance 2009, p. 256 25,000 volunteers with an additional 25,000 conscripts. The IISS estimated that year that the army included 11 border defence and 4 security zones, one regime security brigade, 10 tank battalions, 10 mechanized infantry battalions, 18 infantry battalions, 6 commando battalions, 22 artillery battalions, 4 SSM brigades and 7 air defence artillery battalions.International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2009, p. 256. Khamis Gaddafi's 32nd Brigade ('Khamis Brigade') was one of the main regime protection forces, and was considered by US diplomats in 2009 as the most capable of defending the regime.U.S. diplomatic cables leak, 09TRIPOLI924, 19 November 2009 In addition, the Revolutionary Guard Corps also served as a brigade-sized protection force for Gaddafi. In 2009, it emerged that a British Special Air Service team were training Libyan special forces.BBC . Under Gaddafi, conscription was listed as 18 months.
Paramilitary forces included the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Gaddafi's bodyguard force; the Pan-African Legion; the Islamic Legion; and the People's Militia.
The Libyan Army ceased functioning following the rebel victory in the First Libyan Civil War.
Army equipment From the 1970s Libyan bought a large number of Soviet armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs). An initial delivery of tanks and artillery was made in July 1970.Intelligence Memorandum 531/701, Libyan Arms Supplies Since THE 1969 REVOLUTION Washington, 31 July 1970 Since the coup in September 1969, the Soviets began making offers to Libya. In return, Deputy Prime Minister Jallud and another member of the RCC journeyed to Moscow in November to line up military supplies in case talks with the British collapsed. In March, Jallud was reported to have gone to Moscow again, rather than to his announced destination of Cairo. The Libyans reportedly said they preferred Soviet T-55 tanks (an improved model of the T–54) if Chieftains could not be obtained from the British. The State Department wrote that at least 57 T–54/55 tanks, plus Soviet-made artillery and armored vehicles were unloaded from two Soviet vessels.