Anti-Gaddafi forces
Encyclopedia
The anti-Gaddafi forces were Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

n groups that opposed and militarily defeated the government of Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...

, killing him in the process. These opposition forces included organised and armed militia groups, participants in the 2011 Libyan civil war
2011 Libyan civil war
The 2011 Libyan civil war was an armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security...

, Libyan diplomats
Domestic responses to the 2011 Libyan civil war
-Government resignations:This is a list of officials who resigned or refused to take orders from the Gaddafi regime during the 2011 Libyan civil war.- Ministers :*Minister for Immigration and Expatriates Ali Errishi, resigned 20 February 2011...

 who switched their allegiance from the Gaddafi-led government, and Libyan military units that switched sides to support the protestors.

Libyan opposition

The following is a list of groups who self-proclaimed opposition to the rule of Gaddafi:
  • National Transitional Council
    National Transitional Council
    The National Transitional Council of Libya , sometimes known as the Transitional National Council, the Interim National Council, or the Libyan National Council,...

  • National Liberation Army
    • Free Libyan Air Force
      Free Libyan Air Force
      The Free Libyan Air Force is the air force of the National Transitional Council, a collection of defected Loyalist Military personnel and captured aircraft that have aligned themselves with the Anti-Gaddafi forces of the 2011 Libyan civil war.-Operations:...

  • Libyan Islamic Movement
  • Libyan Youth Movement
  • Committee for Libyan National Action in Europe
  • Libyan Freedom and Democracy Campaign
    Libyan Freedom and Democracy Campaign
    * Support for the National Transitional Council as a useful expedient to help the transition to Democracy, but noting that it does not have legal legitimacy....

    • Democratic Party
      Democratic Party (Libya)
      The Democratic Party of Libya is a political party launched by the Libyan Freedom and Democracy Campaign on 14 July 2011 to represent the aspirations of the Libyan people in post-Gaddafi and post-National Transitional Council elections....

  • National Conference for the Libyan Opposition
    National Conference for the Libyan Opposition
    The National Conference for the Libyan Opposition is a Libyan opposition organization whose stated goal is bringing "an end to tyranny and the establishment of a constitutional and democratic legitimacy" to Libya...

    • Libyan League for Human Rights
      Libyan League for Human Rights
      The Libyan League for Human Rights is a Human Rights League in the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network. LLHR was established on March 2, 1989 by Soliman Bouchuiguir, Hussein Raiani, Mohammad Zayyan, and Mansour Kikhia...

    • National Front for the Salvation of Libya
      National Front for the Salvation of Libya
      The National Front for the Salvation of Libya is an opposition movement to Muammar al-Gaddafi's regime in Libya. NFSL was established on 7 October 1981 at a press conference held in Khartoum, Sudan...

    • Libyan Constitutional Union
    • Libyan Tmazight Congress

Command and control

On 5 March 2011, opposition forces radio in Benghazi
Benghazi
Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, the main city of the Cyrenaica region , and the former provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. The wider metropolitan area is also a district of Libya...

 announced the creation of the National Transitional Council
National Transitional Council
The National Transitional Council of Libya , sometimes known as the Transitional National Council, the Interim National Council, or the Libyan National Council,...

, a political body with 33 representatives from most Libyan regions. The Chairman of the Council is Mustafa Abdul Jalil
Mustafa Abdul Jalil
Mustafa Abdul Jalil or Abdul-Jalil is the Chairman of the National Transitional Council of Libya, and as such serves as head of state in Libya's caretaker government which was formed as a result of the 2011 Libyan civil war. He is also a spokesman for the city of Bayda...

, Abdul Hafiz Ghoga
Abdul Hafiz Ghoga
Abdul Hafiz Ghoga is a Libyan human rights lawyer, who rose to prominence as the spokesman for the National Transitional Council, a body formed in Benghazi during the 2011 Libyan civil war...

 is the Vice-Chairman, and Mahmoud Jibril
Mahmoud Jibril
Mahmoud Jibril el-Warfally , also transcribed Jabril or Jebril or Gebril, is a Libyan politician who served as the interim Prime Minister of Libya for seven and a half months during the 2011 Libyan civil war, chairing the executive board of the National Transitional Council from 5 March 2011 to 23...

 is the Chairman of the Executive Board. Omar El-Hariri
Omar El-Hariri
Omar Mokhtar El-Hariri was a leading figure of the National Transitional Council of Libya who formerly served as the Minister of Military Affairs. He controlled the National Liberation Army and the Free Libyan Air Force from March to May 2011...

 was the head of military affairs until May 2011. Then later that month the position was renamed to Minister of Defense and Jalal al-Digheily
Jalal al-Digheily
Jalal Muhammad Mansur al-Digheily, sometimes transliterated al-Dogheily, is a Libyan politician who served as the Defence Minister of Libya under the National Transitional Council during the 2011 Libyan civil war...

 was assigned to that position. On 8 August 2011, Jalala along with 14 other members of the Executive Board were fired and the position left vacant, but was reappointed in early October 2011 after continuing in the role of interim defense minister for almost two months.

The Commander-in-Chief was General Abdul Fatah Younis
Abdul Fatah Younis
Abdul Fatah Younis , sometimes transliterated Fattah Younis or Fattah Younes or Fatah Younes, was a senior military officer in Libya. He held the rank of Major General and the post of Minister of Interior, but resigned on 22 February 2011 to defect to the rebel side in what was to become the 2011...

 until his death in July 2011. Suleiman Mahmoud
Suleiman Mahmoud
Suleiman Mahmoud al-Obeidi is a senior military officer in Libya. He was formerly a commander in Muammar Gaddafi's army. He was commander of the Tobruk Military Region. He was amongst the first of the army hierarchy to support the 2011 Libyan civil war...

, Younis's top lieutenant, replaced him as army commander. Colonel Khalifa Belqasim Haftar
Khalifa Belqasim Haftar
Khalifa Belqasim Haftar is a senior military officer in Libya. In April 2011, he was reported as holding the rank of lieutenant general....

 is another top military commander. The army is organized into brigades, with rebel fighters bearing identity cards.

Weapons and vehicles

The Libyan opposition was mainly using vehicles and weapons captured from government forces or depots. The opposition had only had access to T-55
T-55
The T-54 and T-55 tanks were a series of main battle tanks designed in the Soviet Union. The first T-54 prototype appeared in March 1945, just before the end of the Second World War. The T-54 entered full production in 1947 and became the main tank for armored units of the Soviet Army, armies of...

 tanks and a very small amount of T-72
T-72
The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1970. It is developed directly from Obyekt-172, and shares parallel features with the T-64A...

 tanks captured during the Second Battle of Benghazi
Second Battle of Benghazi
The Second Battle of Benghazi was a battle in the 2011 Libyan civil war between army units and militiamen loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and anti-Gaddafi forces...

. News coverage commonly showed rebels driving ordinary cars and technicals near battle areas. On 9 March 2011, a report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies said: “Apart from a few mechanized units in Benghazi and Tobruk, and a few armored battalions near Bayda, rebel-controlled areas lack any substantial hardware with which to take on the pro-Gaddafi stronghold of Tripoli." However, two fighter jets defected from Gaddafi and joined the rebels and were used during the Battle of Ajdabiya
Battle of Ajdabiya
The Battle of Ajdabiya was an armed battle in and near the city of Ajdabiya that took place as part of the 2011 Libyan civil war. It was fought between anti-government rebels and military forces loyal to the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi...

 and damaged an armed oiler tanker and possibly two others. They also gained several helicopters from defected units based in Benghazi, these aircraft forming the Free Libyan Air Force
Free Libyan Air Force
The Free Libyan Air Force is the air force of the National Transitional Council, a collection of defected Loyalist Military personnel and captured aircraft that have aligned themselves with the Anti-Gaddafi forces of the 2011 Libyan civil war.-Operations:...

. One of these aircraft, a Soviet-made MiG-23BN
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is considered to belong to the Soviet third generation jet fighter category, along with similarly aged Soviet fighters such as the MiG-25 "Foxbat"...

, was shown having been shot down in a friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...

 incident over Benghazi after it was mistaken for an enemy aircraft.

They had also captured a large number of ZU-23-2
ZU-23-2
The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet towed 23 mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for Zenitnaya Ustanovka - anti-aircraft mount.-Development history:...

 and ZPU anti-aircraft guns, as well as rocket propelled grenade
Rocket propelled grenade
A rocket-propelled grenade is a shoulder-fired, anti-tank weapon system which fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. These warheads are affixed to a rocket motor and stabilized in flight with fins. Some types of RPG are reloadable while others are single-use. RPGs, with the exception of...

s, KPV
KPV heavy machine gun
The KPV-14.5 heavy machine gun is a Soviet designed 14.5x114mm-caliber heavy machine gun, which first entered service as an infantry weapon in 1949. In the 1960s the infantry version was taken out of production because it was too big and heavy...

 14.5mm Heavy machine gun
Heavy machine gun
The heavy machine gun or HMG is a larger class of machine gun generally recognized to refer to two separate stages of machine gun development. The term was originally used to refer to the early generation of machine guns which came into widespread use in World War I...

s, FN FAL
FN FAL
The Fusil Automatique Léger or FAL is a self-loading, selective fire battle rifle produced by the Belgian armaments manufacturer Fabrique Nationale de Herstal . During the Cold War it was adopted by many North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, with the notable exception of the United States...

, F2000 and AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...

 rifles, and FN MAG
FN MAG
The FN MAG is a Belgian 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries, and it has been made under licence in countries such as Argentina, Egypt, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the...

 and PK machine gun
PK machine gun
The PK is a 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun designed in the Soviet Union and currently in production in Russia. The PK machine gun was introduced in the 1960s and replaced the SGM and RPD machine guns in Soviet service...

s. Britain sent 5,000 sets of body armor, 6,650 uniforms and communication equipment to police in rebel-held areas.

In addition to conventional and improvised weapons, there was a surprising amount of sophistication among rebel equipment, with some even fashioning unmanned ground vehicle
Unmanned ground vehicle
An unmanned ground vehicle is a military robot used to augment the soldiers capability. This type of robot is generally capable of operating outdoors and over a wide variety of terrain, functioning in place of humans....

s from remote-controlled toy cars and the like.

Claims of human rights violations against alleged mercenaries

The government of Chad asked the NATO coalition forces to protect its citizens in rebel-held areas of Libya. The Chadian government claims that dozens of its citizens have been executed after being accused of being mercenaries for Gaddafi.

External links

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