Damaged homes are seen after clashes between members of the Libyan pro-government forces, backed by the locals, and Shura Council of Libyan Revolutionaries, an alliance of former anti-Gaddafi rebels who have joined forces with Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia, in Benghazi, Libya.
The Second Libyan Civil War is an ongoing conflict between four rival organizations seeking to control Libya:
The internationally recognized government of the Council of Deputies that was elected democraticallyin 2014, also known as the "Tobruk government" and internationally known formally as the "Libyan Government". This government has the loyalty of the Libyan Army under the command of General officer Khalifa Haftar and has been supported by air strikes by Egypt and the UAE.
The rival Islamist government of the new General National Congress based in the capital Tripoli, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, backed by the wider Islamist coalition known as "Libya Dawn"and aided by Qatar, Sudan, and Turkey.
The Islamist Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, led by Ansar al-Sharia (Libya). That has had the support of the New General National Congress and the unrecognised government in Tripoli led by former prime minister Omar Al-Hassi, stating that Ansar al-Sharia (Libya) are "simple, beautiful and amiable" as well as being engaged in “missionary work".
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's Libyan provinces.
The sides are coalitions of armed groups that sometimes change sides.
At the beginning of 2014, Libya was governed by the General National Congress (GNC) after the electionof 2012. Since then, Islamist parties had controlled the assembly, outmaneuvering the majority centrists and liberals, and electing Nouri Abusahmain as president of the GNC in June 2013. According to some, Abusahmain abused his powers to suppress debates and inquiries. In December 2013, the GNC voted to enforce a variant of sharia law[50] and decided to extend its 18-month mandate for a year until the end of 2014.
On 14 February 2014, in a coup attempt, General Khalifa Haftar, who served under the former regime ofMuammar Gaddafi, called on the GNC to dissolve and for the formation of a caretaker governmentcommittee to oversee new elections. In May 2014, forces loyal to General Haftar launched a large scale air and ground offensive codenamed Operation Dignity (Arabic: عملية الكرامة; 'Amaliya al-Karamah) against Islamist armed groups in Benghazi and against the GNC in Tripoli.In June, the GNC called for new elections to a Council of Deputies: Islamists were defeated, but rejected the results of the election, which saw only an 18% turnout.
The conflict escalated on 13 July 2014, when Tripoli's Islamists and Misratan militias launched Operation Libya Dawn to seize Tripoli International Airport, capturing it from the Zintan militia on 23 August. Shortly thereafter, members of the General National Congress, whom had rejected the June election, reconvened as New General National Congress and voted themselves as replacement of the newly elected Council of Deputies, with Tripoli as their political capital, Nouri Abusahmain as president and Omar al-Hasi as prime minister. As a consequence, the majority of the Council of Deputies was forced to relocate to Tobruk, aligning iself with Haftar's forces and eventually nominating him army chief.
On 6 November, the supreme court in Tripoli, dominated by the new GNC, declared the Council of Deputies dissolved. The Council of Deputies rejected this ruling as made "under threat".
On 16 January 2015, Operation Dignity and Libya Dawn factions agreed on a ceasefire. The country is now led by two separate governments, with Tripoli and Misrata controlled by forces loyal to Libya Dawn and the new GNC in Tripoli, while the international community recognizes Abdullah al-Thani's government and its parliament in Tobruk. Benghazi remains contested between pro-Haftar forces and radical Islamists.
On 15 February, ISIL in Libya released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christiansthe group had previously captured in Sirte. Egyptian authorities carried out airstrikes on ISIL targets in Libya in response to the executions.
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