TheLibyan Armed Forces (Arabic:القوات المسلحة الليبية) or theLibyan Arab Armed Forces (Arabic:القوات المسلحة العربية الليبية)^[2] are, in principle, the state organisation responsible for the military defence ofLibya, including ground, air and naval forces.^[3]

Libyan Armed Forces
Arabic:القوات المسلحة الليبية
Founded	1951; 74 years ago (1951)
Current form	2021
Service branches	Libyan Ground Forces  Libyan Navy  Libyan Air Force
Headquarters	Tripoli
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief	Mohamed al-Menfi
Minister of Defence	Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh
Chief of the General Staff	Mohamed Ali al-Haddad
Personnel
Military age	18 (2012)[1]
Active personnel	c. 32,000
Industry
Foreign suppliers	Current:  Belarus  China  Cuba  Czech Republic  Hungary  Iran  North Korea  Poland  Russia  Ukraine  Vietnam Historical:  Czechoslovakia  Romania  East Germany  France  Italy  Soviet Union  United Kingdom  United States
Related articles
Ranks	Military ranks of Libya

The original army under theLibyan monarchy ofKing Idris I was trained by theUnited Kingdom and theUnited States. SinceMuammar Gaddafi rose to power in 1969, Libya received military assistance from theSoviet Union. The Libyan military fought in several wars, including theLibyan–Egyptian War (1977) and theChadian–Libyan conflict (1978–1987).

After the2011 civil war and the fall of Gaddafi, the armed forces consisted mostly of local militias that were frequently created or ceased to be active and made temporary shifting alliances.^[4] During 2015–2018, afterKhalifa Haftar was appointed in 2015 by theLibyan parliament inTobruk as the supreme commander of the armed forces, he unified many militias into a regular hierarchical structure in the eastern part of Libya that became known as the core of theLibyan National Army (LNA).^[4]

As of November 2019^[update], the regular core of the LNA (about7000 soldiers) was complemented by Salafist militias and foreign mercenaries (about18000 soldiers).^[5][4]: 7 As of 2019^[update], the internationally recognisedGovernment of National Accord (GNA) retained formal control of the militias nominally constituting theLibyan Army, while theLibyan Air Force was split into LNA and GNA controlled components.^[4] Thenaval andcoast guard forces were mostly under GNA control.^[6] with some coastal patrol boats under LNA control.^[4] In 2021, all the armed forces branches (except for the Haftar's forces) were under command of the new President of Libya,Mohamed al-Menfi fromGovernment of National Unity after theSecond Libyan Civil War ceasefire.

The roots of the Libyan armed forces can be traced to theLibyan Arab Force (popularly known as the Sanusi Army) ofWorld War II.^[7] 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 theJabal al Akhdar region ofCyrenaica, 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 atTobruk.

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 fromItaly on 24 December 1951.^[8] The kingdom was later renamed as theKingdom 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 ofMiddle East Command and comprising 25th Armoured Brigade and briefly10th Armoured Division, were still present after independence and stayed in Libya until at least 1957.^[9] Despite the Sanussi lineage of the new army,King Idris I quickly came to distrust them.^[10] TheFree Officers' coup of 1952 in Egypt led many Libyan officers to be disenchanted with Idris and become great followers ofGamal Abdel Nasser. This situation reached the stage that theBritish 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.

TheUnited States also contributed to training a 1,035-man contingent and in June 1957 considered taking responsibility for training the entire army.^[11]

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 10Northrop F-5s.^[12] He attempted to counter his growing doubts about the loyalty of the army by stripping it of potential.^[10] 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 theCyrenaican Defence Force which was recruited fromCyrenaican Bedouin loyal to the Sanussi.^[13] 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 theSix-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. Immediately after the coup, 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.^[14] 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 tenNorthrop F-5 'Freedom Fighter' jet fighters planned to be supplemented with large-scale purchases ofMirage III fighters from France.

A group of young officers and soldiers led byMuammar Gaddafi overthrew King Idris in acoup d'etat on 1 September 1969. The King's nephew andheir presumptive,Crown PrinceHasan, was captured by the rebels and spent several years under house arrest.^[15][16]

The newLibyan Army under Gaddafi's Libyan Arab Republic fought ashort border war with Egypt in July 1977, sent several thousand troops to supportIdi Amin during theUganda–Tanzania War in 1972 and again in 1978, and spent a decadetrying to annex parts of northernChad in 1978–1987.

The Libyan army was estimated to have 50,000 total troops as of 2009.^[17]

The Libyan ground forces had a large amount of mostly Soviet equipment in service. These numbers do not take into account equipment destroyed or captured during the 2011 Libyan civil war.

TheIISS estimated tank numbers in 2009 as 2,025:

• T-55 – 1000+ T-54/T-55
• T-62 – 600; 462 in store;
• T-72 – 150; 115 in store.

Russian official sources reported in 2010 that T-72s would be modernised with help from Russia.^{[citation needed]} 750BTR-50 andBTR-60s were also reported by the IISS.^{[citation needed]}

The IISS estimated there were 500BRDM-2 and 700EE-9 Cascavel reconnaissance vehicles, 1,000BMP-1s, plus BMDs.^[18] Other reported wheeled vehicles in service include 1000EE-11 Urutu and CzechoslovakOT-64 SKOT.^[19]

The IISS estimated artillery in service in 2009 as totaling 2,421 pieces.

444 SP artillery pieces were reported:

• 122 mm – 1302S1 Carnation;
• 152 mm – 140: 602S3 Akatsiya; 80M-77 Dana;
• 155 mm – 174: 14M-109; 160 VCA 155Palmaria.

647+ towed artillery pieces were reported:

• 105 mm – 42+M-101
• 122 mm – 250: 190D-30; 60D-74;
• 130 mm – 330M-46;
• 152 mm – 25ML-20.
• 155 mm – ?M114 155 mm howitzer

830multiple rocket launchers were reported:

• 107 mmType 63 multiple rocket launcher – an estimated 300;
• 122 mm – 530: ε200BM-11; ε230BM-21 Grad; ε100 RM-70 Dana (RM-70 multiple rocket launcher?).

The IISS also estimated that Libya had 500 mortars:

• 82 mm – 428;
• 120 mm – ε48120-PM-43 mortar;
• 160 mm – ε24160mm Mortar M1943.

Surface-to-surface missiles reported in service includedFROG-7 andSCUD-B (416 missiles).

Anti-tank missiles reported in service included 400 French/GermanMILAN, and 620+AT-3,AT-4, andAT-5, all of Soviet manufacture.

In 2009 the IISS estimated that Libya hadCrotale,SA-7 Grail, andSA-9/SA-13surface-to-air missiles, as well as AA guns in Army service. A separate Air Defence Command hadSA-2 Guideline,SA-3 Goa,SA-5 Gammon, andSA-8b Gecko missiles, plus guns.

Reported anti-aircraft artillery included Soviet57 mm S-60, 23 mm self-propelledZSU-23-4 andZU-23-2, CzechM53/59 Praga, and SwedishBofors 40 mm guns.

Small arms reported in service includedTT pistol,Browning Hi-Power,Beretta M12,FN P90,FN FAL,SKS,AK-47,AKM andAK-103 assault rifles, theFN F2000, SovietRPD machine gun,RPK machine gun,PK machine guns,DShK heavy machine gun,KPV heavy machine guns,SG-43 Goryunov, and a number of RPG-type and anti-aircraft missile systems:RPG-2,RPG-7,9K32 Strela-2.

During the 2011–2014 transition period, the Libyan armed forces consisted mostly of a shifting ensemble of militias being created and dissolved and creating and dropping alliances.^[4]

1. based in Tripoli (2013).^[20]

Leader: Mohammed Buzeiud; trained atBassingbourn Barracks,UK (2014)^[20]

1. based in Tripoli (2013).^[20]

As of 2019^[update], since the start of theSecond Libyan Civil War in 2014, the Libyan armed forces, composed to a large degree of militias,^[4] have been partially led by the internationally recognisedGovernment of National Accord (GNA) inTripoli, while remaining highly divided between those nominally led by the GNA and those nominally led byKhalifa Haftar in command of theLibyan National Army (LNA) on behalf of the part of thenational parliament inTobruk.^[21][22] The forces included ground forces divided between the GNA-ledLibyan Army (including militia coalitions such as theTripoli Protection Force) and the LNA; theLibyan Air Force also divided between a GNA component and an LNA component; while thenaval, andcoast guard forces were mostly under GNA control^[6] with some coastal patrol boats under LNA control.^[4]

Prime MinisterFayez al-Sarraj, the head of the GNA, is nominally the supreme commander of the GNA forces.^[23] The military is under the authority of the GNA Ministry of Defense, formerly led by ColonelAl-Mahdi Al-Barghathi from 2016^[24] to 2018, at which point Sarraj took over as defense minister.^[25]

During 2015–2018, the LNA under Haftar's control unified many militias into a regular hierarchical structure in the eastern part of Libya and usedonline social networks to present the image of growing military and political power,^[4] while still remaining, as of November 2019^[update], dominated bySalafist militias and foreign members.^[5] As of 2019^[update], the LNA consisted of about7000 regular soldiers and18000 militia and foreign members.^[4]: 7

• https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1976TRIPOL01169_b.html - parade 1976