The Libyan Civil War

The Libyan Civil War, in other words, the February 17 Revolution, took place in the North African state of Libya in 2011 between rebel groups who wanted to overthrow the government of the time and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and the forces loyal to him. Pre-war protests first started in the Zawiya in August 2009. Finally, on February 15, 2011, the protests increased in intensity and violence as a result of the police opening fire on the crowd in Benghazi. These protests, which initially started as rebel group-supported action by the public, turned into an official rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi with the establishment of the National Transitional Council.

On February 26, the United Nations Security Council took action and signed a text freezing the assets of Gaddafi and his relatives and canceling their travel permits. Immediately after this, he decided to take the incident to the international criminal court. In response, Gaddafi regrouped his army in early March and occupied every place he could find in the eastern strip until he reached Benghazi. In response to this action of Gaddafi, the United Nations issued a declaration that gave all member states a flight ban over Libya and permission to take all possible actions for the safety of civilians. This permission resulted in NATO military forces bombing Libyan military facilities and vehicles in the following hours. After a while, the Gaddafi government, which could no longer stand it, declared a ceasefire, but did not get the response it wanted and the bombings continued unabated. Despite the insistence of the government and the African Union, the rebels rejected the ceasefire offer on the grounds that it did not include Gaddafi's resignation.

American and British naval forces fired nearly 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles to take control of the situation and establish naval superiority. In addition, the French Air Force, the British Royal Air Force, and the Royal Canadian Air Force carried out flights for purposes such as putting pressure on militias and providing air control. Since all of these operations were developed under the leadership of the United Nations and NATO, no troops were used without the permission of the United Nations.

The Libyan government remained virtually unresponsive and helpless to these operations led by NATO and the United Nations. Even though they had 30 heavy SAM batteries, 17 medium SAM batteries, and 55 small SAM batteries, as well as approximately 150 2K12 KUB type and 9K33 OSA type launchers, in total nearly 450 launchers, they could not shoot down even one NATO plane.

The official name of the interventions carried out by the coalition members is France's Operation Harmattan; and the United Kingdom's Operation Ellamy; It took its place in history as Operation Mobile for Canada's participation and Operation Odyssey Down for the United States. Although Italy flatly refused to take part in the operation at the beginning, it offered to participate in the operation if NATO, rather than individual countries, was in charge of the operation. Later, when suitable conditions were provided, Italy became one of the leading countries in the operation and shared its resources with its allies.

At the beginning of the operation, this 10-country bone structure, consisting of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Qatar, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the USA, reached 19 countries as the severity and size of the operation rapidly increased exponentially. The countries that joined the squad later, whose main purpose was to support the core squad, took on tasks such as controlling the land and sea blockade, ammunition support, and security control. The United States, along with the United Kingdom and France, assumed these duties. On top of this, when the date showed March 23, NATO created an arms embargo under the name of Operation United Protector and took it under control. The attempt to take the military and political command of the air operation from a small control organization and put it under everyone's monopoly first failed as a result of the objections of the French, German, and Turkish governments. When the calendar showed March 24, NATO took over the command of air operations, while ground operations remained under the monopoly of this small governing body. The handover of the Air Operations Command to NATO took place on March 31, 2011, at 06.00 UTC and around 08.00 local times. Since then, NATO has conducted approximately 30,000 flights and operations in the region.

In August, the rebels launched a major bombing campaign and attack with NATO support on the Libyan coast under the control of Gaddafi and the Libyan government. As a result, he regained the lost lands and also took control of the capital Tripoli. On September 16, 2011, the National Transitional Council was recognized by the United Nations as the new legal representative of Libya, replacing Gaddafi. Thereupon, Gaddafi managed to escape for about a month. But when the date showed October 20, 2011, he was killed in an operation organized by the National Security Council. Thereupon, the National Security Council issued a statement on October 23, 2011, stating that Libya was liberated and the war was officially over.

After the declaration that the war was officially over, some groups still loyal to Gaddafi continued to stage small rebellions. Some events continued, such as the clashes between local militias and tribes in Bani Walid, known as Gaddafi's old castle, on January 23, 2012. These events led to the establishment of an alternative municipal council and its subsequent recognition by the National Transitional Council. Madkhalism, which became effective among many militias and started to cause divisions, became more widespread. As if this were not enough, most of the militias that fought in the homeland refused to disarm, thus creating a bigger problem. Thereupon, NTC decided to take more stringent measures and cooperated with the government to disband these militia groups or integrate them into the army in some way. Just when Libyans thought everything was solved, these problems that emerged made it inevitable for a second war to break out in Libya.