Archive for the ‘Libya’ Category

2012 Benghazi attack – Wikipedia

2012 Benghazi attackPart of the Inter-civil war violence in Libya

From top to bottom, and left to right: President, Vice President updated on situation night of September 11, 2012; President Obama, with Secretary Clinton, delivering statement in the Rose Garden, September 12, 2012; two photographs released through a FOIA request; Secretary Clinton testifying before the Senate Committee on January 23, 2013; portion of "wanted" poster seeking information on the attacks in Benghazi.

Attack type

Non-fatal injuries

Suspected perpetrators

The 2012 Benghazi attack refers to a coordinated attack against two United States government facilities in Benghazi, Libya by members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia.

At 9:40p.m., September 11, members of Ansar al-Sharia attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi resulting in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith.[6][7] Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979.[8]

At around 4:00a.m. on September 12, the group launched a mortar attack against a CIA annex approximately one-mile (1.6km) away, killing CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty[7][9][10] and wounding ten others. At the behest of the CIA, top U.S. officials initially described the attacks as the results of a spontaneous protest triggered by the recently released anti-Muslim video, Innocence of Muslims.[11] Subsequent investigations showed that the attack was premeditated although rioters and looters not originally part of the group may have joined in after the attacks began.[12][13][14]

The National Review later labeled the attack Battle of Benghazi,[15] a name that has since been used by several media outlets to refer to the attacks. There is no definitive evidence that al-Qaeda or any other international terrorist organization participated in the Benghazi attack.[16][17][18] The United States immediately increased security worldwide at diplomatic and military facilities and began investigating the Benghazi attack.[19][20] Many Libyans condemned the attacks. They staged public demonstrations condemning Ansar Al-Sharia, which had been formed during the 2011 Libyan civil war in opposition to leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.[21][22][23]

State Department officials were later criticized for denying requests for additional security at the consulate prior to the attack. In her role as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton subsequently took responsibility for the security lapses.[24] On August 6, 2013, it was reported that the U.S. had filed criminal charges against several individuals alleged to have been involved in the attacks, including militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattala.[25] Khattala has been described by Libyan and U.S. officials as the Benghazi leader of Ansar al-Sharia. The U.S. Department of State designated Ansar al-Sharia as a terrorist organization in January 2014.[26][27][28]

Khattala was captured in Libya by U.S. Army Special Operations Forces, who were acting in coordination with the FBI, in June 2014.[29] Another suspect, Mustafa al-Imam, was captured in October 2017.[30]

Within months of the start of the Libyan revolution in February 2011, the CIA began building a covert presence in Benghazi.[31] During the war, elite counterterrorist operators from U.S. Delta Force were deployed to Libya as analysts, instructing the rebels on specifics about weapons and tactics.[32]:16 Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was named the first liaison with the Libyan opposition in March 2011.[33] After the end of the war, both the CIA and the U.S. State Department were tasked with continuing to identify and collect arms that had flooded the country during the war, particularly shoulder-fired missiles taken from the arsenal of the Gaddafi regime,[34][35] as well as securing Libyan chemical weapons stockpiles, and helping to train Libya's new intelligence service.[31]

Eastern Libya and Benghazi were key intelligence-gathering hubs for intelligence operatives. Before the attack, the CIA was monitoring Ansar al-Sharia and suspected members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, as well as attempting to define the leadership and loyalty of the various militias present and their interaction with the Salafi elements of Libyan society.[31] By the time of the attack, dozens of CIA operatives were on the ground in Benghazi.[36] In addition, it has been reported that in the summer of 2012, American Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) missions had begun to target Libyan militias linked to the Al-Qaeda network of Yasin al-Suri.[32]:58 By the time of the attack, a composite U.S. Special Operations team with two JSOC members was already in Libya working on their mission profile independently of the CIA and State Department operations.[32]:58[37]

Multiple anonymous sources reported that the diplomatic mission in Benghazi was used by the CIA as a cover to smuggle weapons from Libya to anti-Assad rebels in Syria.[32]:56[36][38][39][40] Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh cites an anonymous former senior Defense Department intelligence official, saying "The consulate's only mission was to provide cover for the moving of arms. It had no real political role." The attack allegedly brought an end to the purported U.S. involvement, but did not stop the smuggling according to Hersh's source.[41] In January 2014, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence cast doubt on this alleged U.S. involvement and reported that "All CIA activities in Benghazi were legal and authorized. On-the-record testimony establishes that the CIA was not sending weapons ... from Libya to Syria, or facilitating other organizations or states that were transferring weapons from Libya to Syria."[42]

During Congressional hearings, Ambassador Stevens' top deputy in Libya, Gregory N. Hicks, testified that Ambassador Stevens was in Benghazi in 2012 because "Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton wanted the post made permanent", and it was understood that the secretary hoped to make an announcement to that effect during a visit to Tripoli later in the year.[43][44][45][46][47] He also stated that "Chris [Stevens] wanted to make a symbolic gesture to the people of Benghazi that the United States stood behind their dream of establishing a new democracy."[48][49]

In April 2012, two former security guards for the consulate threw an IED over the consulate fence; the incident did not cause any casualties.[50] Just four days later, a similar bomb was thrown at a four-vehicle convoy carrying the United Nations Special Envoy to Libya, exploding twelve feet (3.7m) from the UN envoy's vehicle without injuring anyone.[51]

In May 2012, an Al-Qaida affiliate calling itself the "Brigades of the Imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman" claimed responsibility for an attack on the International Red Cross (ICRC) office in Benghazi. On August 6, the ICRC suspended operations in Benghazi. The head of the ICRC's delegation in Libya said the aid group was "appalled" by the attack and "extremely concerned" about escalating violence in Libya.[52]

The Brigades of the Imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman released a video of what it said was its detonation of an explosive device outside the gates of the U.S. consulate on June 6, which caused no casualties but blew a hole in the consulate's perimeter wall,[53][54] described by one individual as "big enough for forty men to go through".[55] The Brigades claimed that the attack was in response to the killing of Abu Yahya al Libi, a Libyan al-Qaeda leader who had just died in an American drone attack, and was also timed to coincide with the imminent arrival of a U.S. diplomat.[56][57] There were no injuries, but the group left behind leaflets promising more attacks against the U.S.[58]

British ambassador to Libya Dominic Asquith survived an assassination attempt in Benghazi on June 10. Two British protection officers were injured in the attack when their convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade 300 yards (270m) from their consulate office.[59] The British Foreign Office withdrew all consular staff from Benghazi in late June.[60][61][62]

On June 18, 2012, the Tunisian consulate in Benghazi was attacked by individuals affiliated with Ansar al-Sharia, allegedly because of "attacks by Tunisian artists against Islam".[32]:31

On the day of the attack, two consulate security guards spotted a man in a Libyan police uniform taking pictures of the consulate with his cell phone from a nearby building that was under construction. The security guards briefly detained the man before releasing him. He drove away in a police car and a complaint was made to the Libyan police station. Sean Smith noticed this surveillance, and messaged a friend online around noon, "Assuming we don't die tonight. We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures."[32]:34

According to a local security official, he and a battalion commander had met with U.S. diplomats three days before the attack and warned the Americans about deteriorating security in the area. The official told CNN that he advised the diplomats, "The situation is frightening; it scares us."[63]

Ambassador Stevens' diary, which was later found at the compound, recorded his concern about the growing al-Qaeda presence in the area and his worry about being on an al-Qaeda hit list.[64]

U.S. security officer Eric Nordstrom twice requested additional security for the mission in Benghazi from the State Department. His requests were denied and according to Nordstrom, State Department official Charlene Lamb wanted to keep the security presence in Benghazi "artificially low".[65]

On December 30, 2012, the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs released a report, "Flashing Red: A Special Report on the Terrorist Attack at Benghazi", wherein it was determined:

In the months [between February 2011 and September 11, 2012] leading up to the attack on the Temporary Mission Facility in Benghazi, there was a large amount of evidence gathered by the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) and from open sources that Benghazi was increasingly dangerous and unstable, and that a significant attack against American personnel there was becoming much more likely. While this intelligence was effectively shared within the Intelligence Community (IC) and with key officials at the Department of State, it did not lead to a commensurate increase in security at Benghazi nor to a decision to close the American mission there, either of which would have been more than justified by the intelligence presented. ... The RSO [Regional Security Officer] in Libya compiled a list of 234 security incidents in Libya between June 2011 and July 2012, 50 of which took place in Benghazi.[66]

The desire of the State Department to maintain a low profile in Benghazi has been cited as the reason why the State Department circumvented their own Overseas Security Policy Board (OSPB) standards for diplomatic security.[67]:7475 In the aftermath, Clinton sought to take responsibility for the security lapses at Benghazi and expressed personal regret.[68] In her January 2013 testimony before Congress, Secretary Clinton claimed security decisions at the Benghazi compound had been made by others, stating, "The specific security requests pertaining to Benghazi ... were handled by the security professionals in the [State] Department. I didn't see those requests, I didn't approve them, I didn't deny them."[69]

The Benghazi attack was conducted by separate military factions on two separate U.S. compounds.[70] The first assault occurred at the main diplomatic compound, approximately 300 yards (270m) long and 100 yards (91m) wide, at about 9:40p.m. local time (3:40p.m. Eastern Time). A mortar fire attack on a CIA annex 1.2 miles (1.9km) away (coordinates 320326N 200516E / 32.0572N 20.0877E / 32.0572; 20.0877 (CIA annex)) began at about 4:00a.m. the following morning[71] and lasted for 11 minutes.[72]

One Libyan guard who was wounded in the attack was quoted as saying "there wasn't a single ant outside [before the attack]."[73] The attackers stated they were acting in response to Innocence of Muslims.[74] No more than seven Americans were in the compound, including Ambassador Stevens.

Stevens was visiting Benghazi at the time to review plans to establish a new cultural center and modernize a hospital.[75] The ambassador also "needed to [prepare a] report ... on the physical and the political and security environment in Benghazi to support an action memo to convert Benghazi from a temporary facility to a permanent facility".[43][44][45][46][47] Surplus funds originally dedicated for use in Iran for fiscal year 2012 were to be redirected and obligated for use in Benghazi: an action that had to be completed before the end of the fiscal yearSeptember 30, 2012.[43][44][46][47]

Stevens had his last meeting of the day with a Turkish diplomat, and escorted the Turkish diplomat to the main gate at about 8:30p.m. local time. The street outside the compound was calm, and the State Department reported no unusual activity during the day outside.[76] Stevens retired to his room at about 9:00p.m.[77]

About 9:40p.m. local time, large numbers of armed men shouting "Allhu Akbar" (God is great) approached the compound from multiple directions.[73][78] They then threw grenades over the wall and entered the compound with automatic weapons fire, RPGs, and heavier weapons.[79][77] A Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent viewed on the consulate's security cameras "a large number of men, armed men, flowing into the compound".[76] He hit the alarm and started shouting, "Attack! Attack!" over the loudspeaker.[80] Phone calls were made to the embassy in Tripoli, the Diplomatic Security Command Center in Washington, the February 17th Martyrs Brigade and a U.S. quick reaction force located at the annex compound a little more than a mile (1.6km) away.[81][82] Ambassador Stevens telephoned Deputy Chief of Mission Gregory Hicks in Tripoli to tell him the consulate was under attack. Hicks did not recognize the phone number so he did not answer it, twice. On the third call Hicks answered the call.[83]

Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent Scott Strickland secured Stevens and Sean Smith, an information management officer, in the main building's safe haven.[82][84] The rest of the agents left to retrieve their weapons and tried to return to the main building.[82] The attackers entered the main building and attempted to enter the safe haven.[80] They then spread diesel fuel in the room and set fires.[80][82] Stevens, Smith, and Strickland moved to the nearby bathroom, but then decided to leave the safe haven after being overcome by smoke.[84] Strickland exited through the window, but Stevens and Smith did not follow him. Strickland returned several times but could not find them in the smoke; he went up to the roof and radioed other agents.[84] Three agents returned to the main building in an armored vehicle, searched the building and found Smith's body, but not Stevens.[84]

According to the Annex Security Team, they had become aware of the consulate attack after 9:30p.m. local time, and were ready to respond; however, they were delayed by "the top CIA officer in Benghazi".[85] The Regional Security Office sounded the alarm and called to the Benghazi CIA annex and the embassy in Tripoli. After some discussion, the CIA's Global Response Staff (GRS) at the CIA annex, which included Tyrone S. Woods, decided to attempt a rescue. By 10:05p.m., the team was briefed and loaded into their armored Toyota Land Cruisers. By this time, communicators at the CIA annex were notifying the chain of command about current developments, and a small CIA and JSOC element in Tripoli that included Glen Doherty was attempting to find a way to Benghazi.[32]:3943

The GRS team from the CIA annex arrived at the consulate and attempted to secure the perimeter and locate the ambassador and Sean Smith. Diplomatic security agent David Ubben located Smith,[86] who was unconscious and later declared dead, but the team was unable to find Stevens in the smoke-filled building. The team then decided to return to the annex with the survivors and Smith's body. While en route back to the annex, the group's armored vehicle was hit by AK-47 rifle fire and hand grenades. The vehicle was able to make it to its destination with two flat tires, and the gates to the annex were closed behind them at 11:50p.m.[32]:4345[71]

A U.S. Army commando unit was sent to Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, Italy the night of the attack but did not deploy to Benghazi. U.S. officials say the team did not arrive at Sigonella until after the attack was over.[87]

Diplomatic Security Service agents/Regional Security Officers informed their headquarters in Washington about the attack just as it was beginning at about 9:40p.m. local time (3:40p.m. Eastern Time (ET)). At the time, they were informed that the attack was a "terrorist attack".[88] By 4:30p.m. ET, Pentagon officials had informed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about the attack. The Pentagon ordered an unmanned aerial vehicle that was in the air conducting surveillance on militant camps to fly over Benghazi. The drone arrived at 11:10p.m. local time (5:10p.m. ET) and began providing a video feed to Washington. At 5:41p.m. ET, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned CIA Director David Petraeus to coordinate. The CIA, which made up most of the U.S. government's presence in Benghazi, had a ten-member security team at its annex and the State Department believed that this team would assist the consulate in the event of an attack.[89]

Just after midnight, the CIA annex came under machine gun, rocket and mortar fire. The CIA defenders held off the attack until the morning.[32]:4546 That same morning, Libyan government forces met up with a group of Americans, reinforcements from Tripoli including Glen Doherty,[90][91] that had arrived at the Benghazi airport. The team, which included two active-duty JSOC operators and five CIA personnel, had commandeered a small jet in Tripoli by paying the pilots $30,000 and forcing them to fly to Benghazi.[32]:43 After being held up at the airport for a few hours, the Libyan forces and newly arrived Americans went to the CIA annex at about 5:00a.m. to assist in transporting approximately 32 Americans at the annex back to the airport for evacuation. Minutes after they drove through the gates, the annex came under heavy fire. With a lull in the fighting, Doherty began searching for his friend, Tyrone S. Woods, and he was told he was on the roof. He found Woods on the roof with two other agents. A mortar round then hit Woods' position, fatally wounding him. As Doherty attempted to reposition and take cover, a second round fell on him, killing him.[32]:4647[92] 31-year-old Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent David Ubben suffered shrapnel injuries and several broken bones in the mortar attacks.[93]

Immediately, several agents ran onto the roof to assess damage and help the wounded. At the same time, a JSOC operator was using a hand-held device displaying images from a Predator drone above, which had been sent by the DOD's US Africa Command after request. The defenders agreed to evacuate to the airport and were attacked with small arms fire along the route.[32]:4748 The evacuation of about 30 Americans included six State Department personnel and Smith's bodythey were unable to locate Ambassador Stevens at the time.

Ambassador Stevens' body was found by a group of Libyans who had accessed the room through a window.[94] They were unaware of his identity, and Abdel-Qader Fadl, a freelance photographer who was with them, told the Associated Press that Stevens was unconscious and "maybe moved his head, but only once". Ahmed Shams, a 22-year-old arts student, told the Associated Press that they were happy when they found Stevens alive and tried to rescue him. A freelance videographer, Fahd al-Bakoush, later published a video[95][96] showing Libyans trying to extract the ambassador from a smoke-filled room,[97][98] where he was found unconscious. According to al-Bakoush, the Libyans saw he was alive and breathing, his eyelids flickering. Though they took him to be a foreigner, no one recognized him as Stevens.[94][95]

At around 1:00a.m., Stevens was taken to the Benghazi Medical Center, a hospital controlled by the Ansar Al-Sharia militia,[99] in a private car as there was no ambulance to carry him.[100] There he was administered CPR for 90 minutes by Dr. Ziad Abu Zeid.[101] According to Dr. Zeid, Stevens died from asphyxiation caused by smoke inhalation, and had no other apparent injuries.[102] The doctor said he believed that officers from the Libyan Interior Ministry transported the body to the airport. State Department officials said they do not know who took Stevens to the hospital or transported the body to the airport and into U.S. custody.[102]

The bodies were taken to Benina International Airport and flown to the capital, Tripoli, and then to Ramstein Air Base in Germany aboard a C-17 military transport aircraft.[103] From Germany, the four bodies arrived at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C., where President Barack Obama and members of his cabinet held a ceremony in honor of those killed.

After the attack, all diplomatic staff were moved to the capital, Tripoli, with nonessential personnel to be flown out of Libya. Sensitive documents remained missing, including documents listing the names of Libyans working with the Americans, and documents relating to oil contracts.[104]

Four Americans died in the attack: Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith,[105] and two CIA operatives,[106] Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods,[107] both former Navy SEALs.[108][109] Stevens was the first United States ambassador killed in an attack since Adolph Dubs was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1979.[110]

On September 10, 2012, at least 18 hours before the attack in Benghazi, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video to coincide with the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, which called for attacks on Americans in Libya in order to avenge the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi in a drone strike in Pakistan in June 2012.[5] It is uncertain how much prior knowledge of the attack al-Zawahiri had, though he praised the attackers on October 12, 2012 in another video.[111] On September 14, 2012, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released a statement arguing the attack was revenge for the death of al-Libi, though they did not claim official responsibility for the Benghazi attack.[5] It was later reported that 3 operatives from the group did take part in the attack.[5] Further, an intercepted phone call from the Benghazi area immediately after the attack reportedly linked senior Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar to the attack.[112]

David Kirkpatrick of The New York Times reported that 20-year-old neighbor Mohamed Bishari witnessed the attack. According to Bishari, it was launched without warning or protest and was led by the Islamist militia Ansar al-Sharia (different from the group called Ansar al-Sharia based in Yemen designated by the U.N. and the U.S. Department of State as a terrorist organization[113]). Kirkpatrick reported that Ansar al-Sharia said they were launching the assault in retaliation for the release of the anti-Islamic video, Innocence of Muslims.[114][115] It was further reported that Ahmed Abu Khattala was called a ringleader of the attack by both witnesses and authorities, though he insisted he did not play a part in the aggression at the American compound. Witnesses, Benghazi residents, and Western news reports have described him as a leader of Ansar al-Sharia, though he stated he was close to the group but not an official part of it. He further stated he was the commander of an Islamist brigade, Abu Obaida ibn al-Jarrah, some of whose members had joined Ansar al-Sharia.[116]

The Brigades of the Imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, a pro-al-Qaeda militia calling for the release of The Blind Sheik, was implicated in the attack by Noman Benotman of the Quilliam Foundation.[1][117] CNN,[1] the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,[119] Commentary Magazine and The Daily Telegraph[117] have listed this group as a chief suspect. USA Today reported that protests in Cairo that preceded the attack on Benghazi were intended to protest the imprisonment of Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman and announced as early as August 30.[120][121] Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi had called for release of the Blind Sheikh in his inaugural address.[121]

In the days and weeks following the attack, President Obama and other administration officials noted that the video had sparked violent incidents at a number of U.S. diplomatic facilities and stated it was also a prime catalyst for the Benghazi attack. On the evening following the attack, in an e-mail to the Egyptian prime minister Kandil, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote "we know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack, not a protest."[122] Two days after the attack, CNN reporter Sarah Aarthun quoted an anonymous senior U.S. administration official: "It was not an innocent mob. The video or 9/11 made a handy excuse and could be fortuitous from their perspective but this was a clearly planned military-type attack."[123] In his September 18 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, President Obama said, "extremists and terrorists used (the anti-Muslim YouTube video) as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies."[124] In his Univision Town Hall appearance on September 20, President Obama said that the "natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests."[125] A later report from an independent review board concluded "there was no protest prior to the attacks."[126]

In October 2012, a Tunisian, Ali Harzi, who a U.S. intelligence official stated had links to Ansar al-Sharia and al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, was arrested in Turkey and repatriated to Tunisia on terrorism charges and possible links to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.[127] Ali Harzi was released by Tunisian authorities on January 8, 2013 because of a lack of evidence.[128]

Also in October, a Libyan suspect, Karim el-Azizi, who had recently returned to Egypt from Libya and was storing weapons in his hideout, detonated a bomb and was found dead in his apartment after clashes with security forces.[129] He has been linked to an Egyptian terrorist group led by Muhammad Jamal Abu Ahmad, who is suspected of training some of the terrorists responsible for the Benghazi attack in camps in the Libyan desert.[130] Jamal Abu Ahmad, a former member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, was released from Egyptian prison after the fall of the Mubarak regime, after which he began assembling a terrorist network.[131] He received financing from the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, petitioned Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to establish a new Al-Qaeda affiliate he called al-Qaeda in Egypt,[130][131] and was subsequently detained by Egyptian authorities in December 2012.[131] On October 7, 2013, the Muhammad Jamal network (MJN) and Muhammad Jamal were designated as "global terrorists" by the U.S. Department of State.[132] The U.S. State Department noted in its designation that Jamal "has developed connections with al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), AQ senior leadership, and al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leadership including Nasir 'Abd-al-Karim 'Abdullah al-Wahishi and Qasim Yahya Mahdi al-Rimi". A few days later, on October 21, 2013, the United Nations Security Council designated the MJN "as being associated with Al-Qaida".[133] The United Nations Security Council also noted, "Some of the attackers of the U.S. Mission in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, have been identified as associates of Muhammad Jamal, and some of the Benghazi attackers reportedly trained at MJN camps in Libya."

In March 2013, Faraj al-Shibli was detained by Libyan authorities and questioned by the FBI because of his suspected involvement in the Benghazi attack.[134] Al-Shibli was detained after he returned from a trip to Pakistan, though his exact role in the attack is unclear. He was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which tried to overthrow the Gadhafi regime in the mid-1990s. Investigators have learned he has had contact with both the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Al-Qaeda members in Pakistan. He was released by Libyan authorities on June 12, 2013, based on claims there was a lack of evidence to hold him in custody.[135] In July 2014 he was found dead in Libya.[136]

Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur's office condemned the attack and extended condolences, saying: "While strongly condemning any attempt to abuse the person of Muhammad, or an insult to our holy places and prejudice against the faith, we reject and strongly condemn the use of force to terrorize innocent people and the killing of innocent people." It also reaffirmed "the depth of relationship between the peoples of Libya and the U.S., which grew closer with the positions taken by the U.S. government in support of the revolution of February 17".[137] Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, the President of the General National Congress of Libya, said: "We apologise to the United States, the people and to the whole world for what happened. We confirm that no-one will escape from punishment and questioning."[138]

There were demonstrations in Benghazi[139] and Tripoli[140] on September 12, condemning the violence and holding signs such as "Chris Stevens was a friend to all Libyans", "Benghazi is against terrorism", and other signs apologizing to Americans for the actions in their name and in the name of Muslims. On the same day, Libya's Deputy Ambassador to London Ahmad Jibril told the BBC that Ansar Al-Sharia was behind the attack.[141][142] On September 13, at a U.S. State Department reception in Washington D.C., the Libyan ambassador to the U.S. Ali Aujali apologized to Secretary of State Clinton for "this terrorist attack which took place against the American consulate in Libya".[142][143] The ambassador further praised Stevens as a "dear friend" and a "real hero". He also urged the United States to continue supporting Libya as it went "through a very difficult time" and that the young Libyan government needed help so that it could "maintain... security and stability in our country".

In the days after the attack, The New York Times stated that young Libyans had flooded Twitter with pro-American messages after the attacks.[140] Think Progress stated that Libyans are typically more positively inclined towards the United States than their neighbors.[144] A 2012 Gallup poll noted that "A majority of Libyans (54%) surveyed in March and April 2012 approve of the leadership of the U.S.among the highest approval Gallup has ever recorded in the... region, outside of Israel."[145] Another poll in Eastern Libya, taken in 2011, reported that the population was at the same time both deeply religious conservative Muslims and very pro-American, with 90% of respondents reporting favorable views of the United States.[146][147]

The Libyan response to the crisis was praised and appreciated in the United States, and President Obama emphasized how the Libyans "helped our diplomats to safety" to an American audience the following day,[21] while a New York Times editorial criticized Egypt's government for not doing "what Libyan leaders did".[148]

On September 16, Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf said that the attack on the United States consulate was planned months in advance,[149] and further stated that "[t]he idea that this criminal and cowardly act was a spontaneous protest that just spun out of control is completely unfounded and preposterous. We firmly believe that this was a precalculated, preplanned attack that was carried out specifically to attack the U.S. consulate."[150]

On September 21, about 30,000 Libyans marched through Benghazi calling for support of the rule of law and for an end to the armed militias that had formed during the Libyan Civil War to oppose Colonel Gaddafi.[22][23] After that war, the militias failed to disband, and continually menaced the Libyan government and populace.[23] Carrying signs with slogans such as "We Want Justice For Chris" and "Libya Lost a Friend", the protestors stormed several militia headquarters, including that of Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamist militia who some allege played a role in the attack on U.S. diplomatic personnel on September 11.[151][152] At least 10 people were killed and dozens more wounded as militiamen fired on demonstrators at the headquarters of Sahaty Brigade, a pro-government militia "operating under the authority of the ministry of defence".[22][152][153]

By early next morning, the protestors had forced militia members to flee and seized control of a number of compounds, releasing four prisoners found inside.[151][152] Protesters burnt a car and a building of at least one facility, and looted weapons.[22][23][152] The militia compounds and many weapons were handed over to Libya's national army[23] in what "appeared to be part of a coordinated sweep of militia bases by police, government troops and activists" following the earlier demonstrations.[151][152] Some militia members accused the protestors of being Gaddafi loyalists, looking to disarm the militias in the wake of the revolution.[23]

On September 23, taking advantage of the growing momentum and rising anger against the militias evinced in the earlier anti-militia demonstrations,[154] the Libyan president declared that all unauthorized militias had 48 hours to either disband or come under government control.[155][156] The government also mandated that bearing arms in public was now illegal, as were armed checkpoints.[156]

It has been noted that previously, handling the militias had been difficult as the government had been forced to rely on some of them for protection and security.[154][155] According to a Libyan interviewed in Tripoli, the government gained the ability to push back against the militias because of a "mandate of the people".[155]

On the 24th, the government commenced with a raid on a former military base held by a rogue infantry militia.[157]

Across the country, militias began surrendering to the government. The government formed a "National Mobile Force" for the purpose of evicting illegal militias.[158] On the same day as the declaration, various militias in Misrata held meetings, ultimately deciding to submit to the government's authority, and handed over various public facilities they had been holding, including the city's three main jails, which were handed over to the authority of the Ministry of Justice.[155] Hours before the announcement, in Derna, the two main militias (one of them Ansar al-Sharia) active in the city both withdrew, leaving both their five military bases behind.[154][155][158]

Hundreds of Libyans, mainly former rebel fighters, gathered in the city centers of Tripoli and Benghazi to hand over their weapons to the government on September 29.[159]

The campaign has been less successful in other areas, such as the remote Nafusa Mountains, inhabited by the Nafusi-speaking Berber minority, where the Emirati news agency The National reported on September 23 that arms were being hoarded. The National also reported arms being hoarded in Misrata, despite simultaneous reporting by other outlets that militias were surrendering in Misrata.[160]

On September 12, U.S. President Barack Obama condemned "this outrageous attack" on U.S. diplomatic facilities[162] and stated that "since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others."[162] After referring to "the 9/11 attacks", "troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan", and "then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi"[162] the President urged, "As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it."[162] He then went on to say,

No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.[162]

After the attack, Obama ordered that security be increased at all such facilities worldwide.[19] A 50-member Marine FAST team was sent to Libya to "bolster security".[163][164] It was announced that the FBI would investigate the possibility of the attack being planned.[165] U.S. officials said surveillance over Libya would increase, including the use of unmanned drones, to "hunt for the attackers".[165]

Secretary of State Clinton also made a statement on September 12, describing the perpetrators as "heavily armed militants" and "a small and savage groupnot the people or government of Libya".[166] She also reaffirmed "America's commitment to religious tolerance" and said "Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior, along with the protest that took place at our Embassy in Cairo yesterday, as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," but whether true or not, that was not a justification for violence.[167] The State Department had previously identified embassy and personnel security as a major challenge in its budget and priorities report.[168]

On September 12, it was reported that the United States Navy dispatched two Arleigh Burke class destroyers, the USS McFaul and the USS Laboon, to the Libyan coast.[169] The destroyers are equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles. American UAVs were also sent to fly over Libya to search for the perpetrators of the attack.[170]

In a speech on September 13, in Golden, Colorado, President Obama paid tribute to the four Americans "killed in an attack on our diplomatic post in Libya", stating,

We enjoy our security and our liberty because of the sacrifices they make... I want people around the world to hear me: To all those who would do us harm, no act of terror will go unpunished. It will not dim the light of the values that we proudly present to the rest of the world.[171]

In his press briefing on September 14, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that "we don't have and did not have concrete evidence to suggest that this [the Benghazi attack] was not in reaction to the film."[172] He went on to say:

There was no intelligence that in any way could have been acted on to prevent these attacks. It isI mean, I think the DNI spokesman was very declarative about this that the report is false. The report suggested that there was intelligence that was available prior to this that led us to believe that this facility would be attacked, and that is false... We have no information to suggest that it was a preplanned attack. The unrest we've seen around the region has been in reaction to a video that Muslims, many Muslims find offensive. And while the violence is reprehensible and unjustified, it is not a reaction to the 9/11 anniversary that we know of, or to U.S. policy.

On September 14, the remains of the slain Americans were returned to the U.S.; President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the ceremony. In her remarks Clinton said, "One young woman, her head covered and her eyes haunted with sadness, held up a handwritten sign that said 'Thugs and killers don't represent Benghazi nor Islam.' The President of the Palestinian Authority, who worked closely with Chris when he served in Jerusalem, sent me a letter remembering his energy and integrity, and deploringand I quote'an act of ugly terror.'"[173] She went on to say: "We've seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men."

On September 16, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice appeared on five major interview shows to discuss the attacks. Prior to her appearance, Rice was provided with "talking points" from a CIA memo,[174] which stated:

The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.

This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated. The investigation is ongoing, and the U.S. government is working with Libyan authorities to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of U.S. citizens.[175]

Using these talking points as a guide, Rice stated:

Based on the best information we have to date, what our assessment is as of the present is in fact what began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassysparked by this hateful video. But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent. We do notwe do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned. I think it's clear that there were extremist elements that joined in and escalated the violence. Whether they were al Qaeda affiliates, whether they were Libyan-based extremists or al Qaeda itself I think is one of the things we'll have to determine.[176][177][178][179][180]

In a White House press briefing on September 18, press secretary Jay Carney explained the attack to reporters: "I'm saying that based on information that weour initial information, and that includes all informationwe saw no evidence to back up claims by others that this was a preplanned or premeditated attack; that we saw evidence that it was sparked by the reaction to this video. And that is what we know thus far based on the evidence, concrete evidence."[181]

On September 20, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney answered a question about an open hearing with the National Counterterrorism Center Director, Matthew G. Olsen, which referenced which extremist groups might have been involved. Carney said, "It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack. Our embassy was attacked violently, and the result was four deaths of American officials. So, again, that's self-evident."[182] On the same day, during an appearance on Univision, a Spanish-language television network in the United States, President Obama stated, "What we do know is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests."[183][184][185][186][187]

Also on September 20, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a classified briefing to U.S. Senators,[188] which several Republican attendees criticized.[189] According to the article, senators were angered at the Obama administration's rebuff of their attempts to learn details of the Benghazi attack, only to see that information published the next day in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

On September 24, advertisements condemning an anti-Islam video appeared on Pakistani television. The television ads in Pakistan (marked with the U.S. Embassy seal) feature clips of President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton during press appearances in Washington in which they condemned the video. Their words were subtitled in Urdu.[190]

On September 25, in an address before the United Nations General Assembly President Obama stated, "The attacks on our civilians in Benghazi were attacks on America... And there should be no doubt that we will be relentless in tracking down the killers and bringing them to justice."[75][191] He referred to Innocence of Muslims as "a crude and disgusting video [that] sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world". He said, "I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity."[192] He further stated, "There is no video that justifies an attack on an Embassy."[193]

On September 26, Clinton acknowledged a possible link between Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Benghazi attack.[3]

On September 28, a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence stated

In the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo. We provided that initial assessment to Executive Branch officials and members of Congress... As we learned more about the attack, we revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists. It remains unclear if any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their members to participate.[194]

Also on September 28, it was reported that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the producer of the Innocence of Muslims video, had been arrested in California and was being held without bail for alleged probation violations stemming from a 2010 bank fraud conviction.[195]

On CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley on September 30, Crowley observed that "Friday we got the administration's sort of definitive statement that this now looks as though it was a pre-planned attack by a terrorist group, some of whom were at least sympathetic to al Qaeda," and asked the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain, "why do you think and are you bothered that it has taken them this long from September 11th to now to get to this conclusion?" to which McCain replied that "it interferes with the depiction that the administration is trying to convey that al Qaeda is on the wane... how else could you trot out our U.N. ambassador to say this was a spontaneous demonstration?... It was either willful ignorance or abysmal intelligence to think that people come to spontaneous demonstrations with heavy weapons, mortars, and the attack goes on for hours."[196]

On October 4, 22 days after the attack, FBI investigators were finally allowed access to the scene of the attack.[197] The crime scene was not secured during that time; neither American nor Libyan investigators were able to secure the scene. The hearing testimony revealed that "Hicks argued that Rice's comments so insulted the Libyan presidentsince they contradicted his Sept. 16 claims that the attack was premeditatedthat it slowed the FBI's investigation. 'President Magariaf was insulted in front of his own people, in front of the world. His credibility was reduced,' Hicks said, adding that the president was apparently 'still steamed' two weeks later."[198]

To assist the Libyan government in disbanding extremist groups, the Obama administration allocated $8 million to begin building an elite Libyan commando force over the next year.[199]

In the Presidential debate of October 16, 2012, between President Obama and Mitt Romney, Romney claimed that "it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror." President Obama responded, "The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened," Obama said. "That this was an act of terror, and I also said that we're going to hunt down those who committed this crime."[200] When Romney challenged Obama, asking "You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack, it was an act of terror. It was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're saying?" the President responded, "Please proceed, governor" and "Get the transcript." The moderator of the debate, Candy Crowley, agreed, stating "Hehe did call it an act of terror." A CNN analysis stated that Obama had indeed referred to the incident as a "terrorist attack", but that Romney was correct in noting that the administration delayed in conclusively stating that the attack was not a spontaneous protest related to the video.[201] A 14 May 2013 Fact Checker by Glenn Kesler said that Obama repeatedly used the phrase "act of terror" when talking about the attack, but he did not directly state that the attack was an act of terror.[202]

On October 19, 2012, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) came under fire from intelligence officials in the Obama administration when he posted, on a public website, 166 pages of sensitive but unclassified State Department communications related to Libya. According to officials, the release of the unredacted documents compromised the identities of several Libyans working with the U.S. government and placed their lives in danger.[203]

On CBS's Face the Nation on October 28, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) stated that "this is either a massive cover-up or incompetence" and suggested that it was a scandal worse than Watergate. McCain stated, "we know that there were tapes, recordings inside the consulate during this fight... So the president went on various shows, despite what he said in the Rose Garden, about terrorist acts, he went on several programs, including The View, including Letterman, including before the UN where he continued to refer, days later, many days later, to this as a spontaneous demonstration because of a hateful video. We know that is patently false. What did the president know? When did he know it? And what did he do about it?"[204] CBS News reported earlier on October 24 that the video of the assault was recovered 20 days after the attack, from the more than 10 security cameras at the compound.[205] In a radio interview October 29, 2012, Senator John McCain said that the surveillance tapes had been classified top secret.[206]

Secretary Clinton was scheduled to testify before Congress on December 20 about the attack. On December 15, it was reported that she had become dehydrated from the flu, fainted, and sustained a concussion. Consequently, her testimony was postponed.[207] The incident prompted Republican Rep. Allen West to claim that the illness was a ruse intended to avoid testifying. Former UN Ambassador John Bolton called the concussion a "diplomatic illness".[208]

On January 23, 2013, during testimony at a Senate hearing on Benghazi, Clinton engaged in a heated exchange with Senator Ron Johnson. When Johnson pressed her to explain why, in the immediate aftermath, no one from the State Department had asked American evacuees if there had been a protest before the attack, Clinton replied:

With all due respect, the fact is, we had four dead Americans! Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they'd go kill some Americans?! What difference, at this point, does it make?! It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator. Now, honestly, I will do my best to answer your questions about this, but the fact is that people were trying in real time to get to the best information. The [Intelligence Community] has a process, I understand, going with the other committees to explain how these talking points came out. But you know, to be clear, it is, from my perspective, less important today looking backwards as to why these militants decided they did it than to find them and bring them to justice, and then maybe well figure out what was going on in the meantime.[209]

In March 2013, Representative Duncan D. Hunter introduced legislation into the 113th Congress to authorize awarding of Congressional Gold Medals to Doherty and Woods for their actions that led to their deaths.[210]

In April 2013, the Pentagon announced the activation of a USMC quick response force for North Africa that would use the range and speed of the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey to be able to respond to similar events in the future.[211] Spain authorized the basing of the quick response force at Morn Air Base near Seville, for a temporary one-year term.[212]

On May 13, 2013, President Obama stated during a news conference, "The day after it happened, I acknowledged that this was an act of terrorism." This claim was disputed by Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post in a "Fact Checker" article, which explored at length the difference in meaning between the phrases "act of terror" and "act of terrorism."[202] In the article, Kessler accused Obama of "revisionist history" for stating he had called the attack an "act of terrorism" when in fact he had used the term "act of terror", observing that Obama had gone out of his way to avoid calling the incident an "act of terrorism" or blame the ambassador's death on terrorism.[202][213]

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Libya – travel.state.gov

Do not travel to Libya due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and armed conflict.

Crime levels in Libya remain high, including the threat of kidnapping for ransom. Westerners and U.S. citizens have been targets of these crimes.

Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Libya. Violent extremist activity in Libya remains high, and extremist groups have made threats against U.S. government officials, citizens, and interests. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, hotels, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities.

Outbreaks of violence between competing armed groups can occur with little warning and have the potential to impact U.S. citizens. The capital, Tripoli, and other cities, such as Surman, Al-Jufra, Misrata, Ajdabiya, Benghazi and Dernah, have witnessed fighting among armed groups, as well as terrorist attacks. Hotels and airports frequented by Westerners have been caught in the crossfire. Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence.

Militia groups sometimes detain travelers for arbitrary reasons, do not grant detainees access to a lawyer or legal process, and do not allow detainees to inform others of their status. U.S. citizens should carry proof of citizenship and valid immigration status at all times, but having these documents does not guarantee fair treatment.

Some international airports are closed, and flights out of operational airports are sporadic and may be cancelled without warning. The U.S. government is very concerned about the targeting of commercial transportation in Libya, and prohibits U.S. commercial aviation operations within Libyan airspace.

The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency or routine assistance to U.S. citizens in Libya as the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli suspended its operations in July 2014.

Due to risks to civil aviation operating within or in the vicinity of Libya, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) and/or a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR). For more information U.S. citizens should consultthe Federal Aviation Administrations Prohibitions, Restrictions and Notices.

Read the Safety and Security section on thecountry information page.

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Libya - travel.state.gov

World Report 2017: Libya | Human Rights Watch

The United Nations-backed, internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) struggled in 2016 to assert itself in the capital Tripoli, as two authoritiesone also based in Tripoli and another in eastern Libyacontinued to compete for legitimacy and control over resources and infrastructure.

Forces aligned with all governments and dozens of militias continued to clash, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis with close to half-a-million internally displaced people. The civilian population struggled to gain access to basic services such as healthcare, fuel, and electricity.

Militias and armed forces affiliated with the two governments engaged in arbitrary detentions, torture, unlawful killings, indiscriminate attacks, abductions, and forcible disappearances. Criminal gangs and militias abducted politicians, journalists, and civiliansincluding childrenfor political and monetary gain. The domestic criminal justice system remained dysfunctional, offering no prospects for accountability, while the International Criminal Court (ICC), despite having jurisdiction over Libya provided by the UN Security Council, failed to open any new investigation into ongoing crimes.

The United States, United Kingdom, France, and the United Arab Emirates reportedly expanded their military activities in Libya to support forces in fighting extremists in Sirte and Benghazi.

The Islamic State (also known as ISIS) lost control over large parts of its self-proclaimed capital in Sirte, where it had been based since June 2015, and remained embroiled in fighting with Libyan and foreign forces. ISIS groups summarily executed people for alleged witchcraft and treason and imposed a severe and restrictive interpretation of Sharia law in areas under their control.

Tens of thousands of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees from Africa and the Middle East transited through Libya on their way to Europe, with at least 4,518 drowning or going missing while crossing the Mediterranean in unsafe vessels. While in Libya, armed groups and guards at migrant detention facilities subjected many to forced labor, torture, sexual abuse, and extortion.

European Union efforts to stem migration from Libya risk condemning migrants and asylum seekers to violent abuse at the hands of government officials, militias, and criminal groups in Libya.

The Presidential Council (PC), the highest body of the GNA, arrived in March in Tripoli to take control of ministries and government facilities that had previously been under the control of the self-proclaimed National Salvation Government, which stepped down in April to make way for the GNA .

In October, the former prime minister of the National Salvation Government announced a comeback together with the rump General National Congress, the former legislature, and took over the Tripoli premises of the State Council, the advisory body attached to the GNA.

The Interim Government, meanwhile, refused to recognize the cabinet proposed by the Presidency Council and continued to operate as a rival authority from al-Bayda and Tobruk in eastern Libya. Despite enjoying international recognition, the GNA struggled to win support domestically and gain authority and control over territory and institutions.

The so-called Libyan National Army (LNA), under the command of General Khalifa Hiftar and allied with the Interim Government, gained control of substantial territory in 2016, including in the oil crescent, where they took over major terminals. Libyas legislative body, the House of Representatives, remained allied with the Interim Government. Throughout the year, deputies opposing the UN-backed GNA obstructed voting for a proposed cabinet.

In June, the president of the House of Representatives, Agilah Saleh, declared martial law, a de facto state of emergency, in the eastern region and appointed the LNA chief of staff, Abdulrazeq al-Nadhouri, as military governor for that region. Since then, al-Nadhouri has replaced several elected civilian heads of municipal councils with military governors.

In September, Abdurrahman Swehli, head of the High Council of State, declared that, in light of the inability of the House of Representatives to confirm a cabinet, the High Council of State would exercise all powers, including legislative ones.

Libyas Constitution Drafting Assembly failed to finalize a preliminary draft constitution and remained embroiled in internal disagreements.

In the absence of a state authority exercising control over the national territory, dozens of rival militia groups and military forces, with varying agendas and allegiances, continued to flout international law with impunity. They indiscriminately shelled civilians, abducted and forcibly disappeared people, tortured, arbitrarily detained, and unlawfully killed people and destroyed civilian property.

In the first half of 2016, fighters loyal to ISIS controlled the central coastal town of Sirte and subjected residents to a rigid interpretation of Sharia law that included public floggings, amputation of limbs, and public lynchings, often leaving the victims corpses on display.

Warring factions continued to indiscriminately shell civilian areas, mostly in Benghazi and Derna in the east and in Sirte. From March until August, 141 civilian were killed in the violence, including 30 children, and 146 injured, including 28 children, according to the UN Support Mission In Libya (UNSMIL).

In the east, the LNA and allied forces made substantial advances against the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, an alliance of groups including Islamist militias such as Ansar al-Sharia. As of November 2016, fighting remained concentrated in the Ganfouda neighborhood of Benghazi, where several hundred civilians, including Libyans and foreign nationals, remained trapped by a standoff between LNA and militants since 2014. Civilians, including children, struggled with limited access to medical care, electricity, and food.

In February, two Serbian civilians held by ISIS died in US air strikes on targets in the western coastal town of Sabratha, which also killed dozens of fighters. The same month, unidentified aircraft attacked a hospital compound in the city of Derna, killing at least two civilians and causing extensive damage.

In May, armed groups allied with the GNA, backed by US airstrikes, launched a military offensive against ISIS fighters in Sirte. Hostilities continued at time of writing.

In Derna, the LNA continued to fight against the Derna Revolutionaries Shura Council, an alliance of militias that participated in the ousting of ISIS from the city in 2015.

In July, 14 unidentified bodies were found close to a dumpster in Benghazi with gunshot wounds, and in October, 10 unidentified bodies with gunshot wounds and torture marks were found in a nearby neighborhood of Benghazi. Both incidents took place in areas under LNA control. To date, authorities have not publicly announced any conclusion to their investigations. In October, shelling by unidentified forces killed one woman and injured six others in a camp for internally displaced people from Tawergha, in Tripoli.

Prison authorities and militias continued to hold thousands of detainees, including some women and children, in long-term arbitrary detention without charges or due process. While conditions varied, most prisons lacked a functioning medical facility and hygienic sanitary installations. Guards and militia members mistreated and tortured detainees with impunity.

In June, unidentified armed groups killed 12 detainees upon their conditional release from al-Baraka prison in Tripoli. All 12 were members of the former Gaddafi government and had been accused of taking part in the violence against anti-government protesters in 2011. According to the families, the bodies were found in various locations around Tripoli. At time of writing, no investigation had been conducted into these crimes.

Ongoing insecurity led to the collapse of the criminal justice system in Libya. Courts in the east remained mostly shut, while elsewhere they operated at a reduced level. The Supreme Court failed to issue judgments on all cases that were heard before it due to political divisions. In Sirte and environs, ISIS groups implemented their own interpretation of Sharia law in areas under their control including punishing people for smoking, wearing immodest dress, and adultery.

The ICC has the mandate to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1970 passed on February 27, 2011. The ICC prosecutor has failed to open any new investigations into the grave and ongoing crimes in Libya, citing resource limitations.

Libyan authorities failed to surrender Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, to the ICC where he is wanted for committing crimes against humanity during the 2011 uprising. Gaddafi was held by a militia in Zintan since his arrest in 2011, and was last seen by UN monitors in Zintan in June 2014.

In her November 9 update to the Security Council, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced her office would expand the Libya investigations in 2017 to include recent and ongoing serious crimes.

The penal code contains more than 30 articles that provide for the death penalty. Since Gaddafis overthrow in 2011, civil and military courts around the country have imposed death sentences, including against eight former officials in the Gaddafi government in a flawed trial in 2015. No death sentences are known to have been carried out since 2010.

The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated at 435,000 Libyas population of internally displaced people. UNHCR was unable to conduct vital activities such as child protection services at detention centers due to inadequate funding for its humanitarian programs.

In what amounts to a crime against humanity, militias and authorities in Misrata continued to prevent 40,000 residents of Tawergha, Tomina, and Karareem from returning to their homes in relation for alleged crimes during the 2011 revolution attributed to people from those cities against anti-Gaddafi activists and fighters.

In August, representatives of Misrata and Tawergha signed a reconciliation agreement that aims to ensure return home of the displaced from Tawergha as well as compensation for both sides and reconstruction of damaged structures. The deal also foresees accountability for serious crimes. It has yet to come into force.

In June, an ISIS fighter allegedly shot dead freelance reporter Khaled Al Zantani in Benghazi. In Sirte, an ISIS fighter allegedly shot and killed photojournalist Abdelkader Fassouk in July, and in September, an ISIS fighter allegedly shot and killed Dutch photojournalist Jeroen Oerlemans.

The fate of Sofiane Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari, two Tunisian journalists who went missing in September 2014 while on assignment in Libya, remained unknown.

Armed groups kidnapped and disappeared other journalists. According to RSF, in January, a unit allied with the LNA in Benghazi arrested and tortured a local correspondent for a TV station, Libya HD, Badr Al Rabhi, for three days.

The penal code permits a reduced sentence for a man who kills or injures his wife or another female relative because he suspects her of extramarital sexual relations. Libyan law inadequately prohibits domestic violence and its personal status laws continue to discriminate against women, particularly with respect to marriage, divorce, and inheritance.

Same-sex relations are prohibited and punished with up to five years in jail.

Militias continued to abduct and disappear civilians, including politicians and journalists, with impunity. Criminal groups abducted residents, including children, demanding large ransoms from their families and often killing their victims if relatives failed to come up with the money.

Those still missing include Tripoli civil society activist Abdelmoez Banoon and Benghazi prosecutor Abdel-Nasser Al-Jeroushi, both abducted by unidentified groups in 2014. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity and sentenced to death in absentia by a Tripoli court for crimes committed during the 2011 revolution, was last seen in June 2014, in Zintan. Gaddafi was held by the Abu Baker al-Siddiq Brigade in Zintan following his arrest in 2011.

Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, continued to flock to Europe via Libya. As of November, UNHCR recorded over 342,774 arrivals to Italy by sea from North Africa since January mostly from Libya. According to UNHCR, at least 4,518 died or went missing while crossing the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe. The International Organization for Migration estimated that 771,146 migrants and asylum seekers were in Libya as of November.

Members of the Libyan Coast Guards or Navy intercepted boats and returned the migrants and refugees back to land and into detention centers, often subjecting the migrants they intercepted to physical and verbal abuse. While the Department for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM), which is part of the Ministry of Interior, managed the majority of migrant detention centers, militias and smugglers controlled other unofficial detention facilities.

Conditions at migrant detention facilities remained abysmal. Officials and militias held migrants and refugees in prolonged detention without judicial review and subjected them to poor conditions, including overcrowding and insufficient food. Guards and militia members subjected migrants and refugees to beatings, forced labor, and sexual violence.

The United States, European Union, and regional states all played significant roles in the armed conflicts occurring in Libya. The US, France, and United Kingdom reportedly participated in military activities in support of Libyan forces against militant groups, most notably ISIS in Sirte and Benghazi.

Efforts to reach a political settlement between warring factions, led by the UN envoy to Libya Martin Kobler, and backed by members of the international community most notably the US, UK, France, and Italy, failed to achieve the desired results as parties remained engaged in hostilities, competing for legitimacy.

On March 8, the UN Panel of Experts on Libya, established pursuant to UN Security Council resolution 1973 (2011), issued its final report which said that several countries, individuals, and companies were responsible for violations of the arms embargo against Libya. According to the report, the UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Ukraine and Sudan have all violated the arms embargo against Libya since 2011, by transferring weapons, ammunitions, aircraft or armored vehicles to the conflict parties.

Also in March, a leaked document revealed that British special forces had been actively fighting extremist groups in Libya since January. In July, France announced that three of its soldiers were killed in Libya after a helicopter crashed during an intelligence-gathering operation. In August, the US expanded its air campaign in Libya, at the request of the GNA, to include targets in the ISIS stronghold of Sirte.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report in February documenting widespread violations and abuses committed in Libya since 2014 that included unlawful killings; indiscriminate attacks; torture and ill treatment; arbitrary detention; abductions and disapperances; and violations against women, journalists, human rights defenders, migrants, and children.

Despite a recommendation by the High Commissioner that the Human Rights Council consider establishing an independent expert mandate on Libya to report on the human rights situation and progress towards accountability, the councils resolution only requested a further report from the high commissioner in March 2017. In a September update, the high commissioners office reported to the council that the situation has not improved and that impunity prevails, and reiterated the recommendation that the council create an independent expert mandate.

The UN Security Council extended for another 12 months in March an arms embargo on Libya. In June, the council unanimously authorized the inspection of vessels off Libyan high seas in an effort to crackdown on illicit weapons smuggling. The council also passed a resolution in July that authorized moving Libyas category 2 chemical weapons out of the country and destroying them. In October, the council renewed its authorization for the interdiction of vessels used for smuggling migrants on the high seas off the coast of Libya.

The Rule of Law and Human Rights division at UNSMIL, which operates from Tunis and visits Libya only rarely due to security concerns, scaled down its public reporting on human rights violations. However, in March, it started producing a monthly bulletin on civilian casualties in Libya.

In June, the EU extended its anti-smuggling naval operation in the central Mediterranean, Operation Sophia, to include training for the Libyan Coast Guard and Navy. In July, NATO committed to supporting Operation Sophia by providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as capacity-building for the Libyan coastguard and navy.

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World Report 2017: Libya | Human Rights Watch

Libya | History, People, & Government | Britannica.com

Libya, country located in North Africa. Most of the country lies in the Sahara desert, and much of its population is concentrated along the coast and its immediate hinterland, where Tripoli (arbulus), the de facto capital, and Banghz (Benghazi), another major city, are located.

Libya comprises three historical regionsTripolitania in the northwest, Cyrenaica in the east, and Fezzan in the southwest. The Ottoman authorities recognized them as separate provinces. Under Italian rule, they were unified to form a single colony, which gave way to independent Libya. For much of Libyas early history, both Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were more closely linked with neighbouring territories than with one other.

Before the discovery of oil in the late 1950s, Libya was considered poor in natural resources and severely limited by its desert environment. The country was almost entirely dependent upon foreign aid and imports for the maintenance of its economy; the discovery of petroleum dramatically changed this situation. The government long exerted strong control over the economy and attempted to develop agriculture and industry with wealth derived from its huge oil revenues. It also established a welfare state, which provides medical care and education at minimal cost to the people. Although Libyas long-ruling leader Muammar al-Qaddafi espoused an idiosyncratic political ideology rooted in socioeconomic egalitarianism and direct democracy, Libya in practice remained an authoritarian state, with power concentrated among members of Qaddafis inner circle of relatives and security chiefs. Opposition to the Qaddafi regime reached an unprecedented level in 2011, developing into an armed revolt that forced Qaddafi from power. (For a discussion of unrest in Libya in 2011, see Libya Revolt of 2011.)

Libya is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the north, Egypt on the east, Sudan on the southeast, Niger and Chad on the south, and Tunisia and Algeria on the west.

Libya is underlain by basement rocks of Precambrian age (from about 4 billion to 540 million years ago) mantled with marine and wind-borne deposits. The major physical features are the Nafsah Plateau and the Al-Jifrah (Gefara) Plain in the northwest, the Akhar Mountains (Green Mountains) in the northeast, and the Saharan plateau, which occupies much of the rest of the country.

The Al-Jifrah Plain covers about 10,000 square miles (26,000 square km) of Libyas northwestern corner. It rises from sea level to about 1,000 feet (300 metres) at the foothills of the Nafsah Plateau. Composed of sand dunes, salt marshes, and steppe, the plain is home to most of Libyas population and to its largest city, Tripoli. The Nafsah Plateau is a limestone massif that stretches for about 212 miles (340 km) from Al-Khums on the coast to the Tunisian border at Nlt. West of Tarhnah it rises steeply from the Al-Jifrah Plain, reaching elevations between 1,500 and 3,200 feet (450 and 975 metres).

In northeastern Libya, the Akhar Mountains stretch along the coast between Al-Marj and Darnah. These limestone mountains rise steeply from the coast to about 2,000 feet (600 metres) and then stretch about 20 miles (30 km) inland, reaching nearly 3,000 feet (900 metres) at their highest points.

The Saharan plateau makes up about nine-tenths of Libya. About half of the plateau is sand desert, making it truly a sea of sand. Al-Harj al-Aswad is a hilly basaltic plateau in central Libya. Covered with angular stone fragments and boulders, it rises to about 2,600 feet (800 metres) and is crowned by volcanic peaks. Al-amr Plateau lies south of the Nafsah Plateau. It harbours bare rock outcroppings that rise to 2,700 feet (820 metres). In the Fezzan region in the southwest, a series of long depressions and basins contain wadis (dry riverbeds) and oasis settlements. Mobile sand dunes that reach heights of 300 feet (90 metres) are found in the Fezzans Marzq desert and in the eastern Libyan Desert, which extends into Egypt. The countrys highest elevations are Bkk Btt peak (Picco Bette), which rises to 7,436 feet (2,267 metres) on the Libya-Chad border, and Mount Al-Uwaynt, with an elevation of 6,345 feet (1,934 metres) on the Libya-Sudan-Egypt border.

There are no permanent rivers in Libya. The numerous wadis that drain the uplands are filled by flash floods during the rains but then quickly dry up or are reduced to a trickle. The largest wadi systems are the Wadi Zamzam and Wadi Bayy al-Kabr, both of which empty into the sea on the western coast of the Gulf of Sidra. Other large wadis drain the interior basins of Sirte, Zalan, and the Fezzan. There is also, however, extensive underground water. Numerous oases are watered by wells and springs, and artesian wells tap large deep fossil aquifers in the Fezzan and southeastern Libya; the Great Man-Made River was one of the more ambitious projects designed to make use of these underground reserves. (See map illustrating the phases of the Great Man-Made River project that were planned or completed in the late 20th century.) Along the coastal strip there are several salt flats, or sabkhas, formed by the ponding and evaporation of water behind coastal dunes. Principal salt flats are found at Twurgh, at Zuwrah, and on the Banghz Plain.

The gray-brown soils of the Al-Jifrah Plain and the Nafsah Plateau in the west are fertile, although overirrigation has led to increased soil salination. In the east, the soils of the Barce plainwhich stretches between the Akhar Mountains and the seaare light and fertile. Rich alluvial soils are found in the coastal deltas and valleys of large wadis. On the margins of the Sahara, cultivation and overgrazing have seriously depleted the soil. The rest of the country is covered by wind-eroded sand or stony desert. The soils in these areas are poorly developed, with little organic material.

Libyas climate is dominated by the hot, arid Sahara, but it is moderated along the coastal littoral by the Mediterranean Sea. The Saharan influence is stronger in summer. From October to March, prevailing westerly winds bring cyclonic storms and rains across northern Libya. A narrow band of semiarid steppe extends inland from the Mediterranean climate of the Al-Jifrah Plain, the Nafsah Plateau, and the Akhar Mountains. The desert climate of the Sahara reaches the coast along the southern fringes of the Gulf of Sidra, where Al-amryah (Sirte) Desert borders the sea. Periodic droughts, often lasting several years, are common in the steppe and desert.

Along the coast, the Mediterranean climate is characterized by a cool, rainy winter season and a hot, dry summer. The warmest months are July and August, when average temperatures in Banghz and Tripoli, in the Mediterranean zone, reach between the low 70s and mid-80s F (low to upper 20s C) and the low 60s and mid-80s F (upper 10s and low 30s C), respectively. The coolest months are January and February; winter monthly temperatures in Banghz range from the low 50s to low 60s F (low to mid-10s C), while those in Tripoli range from the upper 40s to low 60s F (low to mid-10s C). Banghz has an average annual precipitation of about 10 inches (250 mm), and Tripoli receives an annual average of about 15 inches (380 mm).

Inland from the coast, annual precipitation declines, and its variability increases. Most rain falls in a few days between November and January. Less than 4 inches (100 mm) of rain falls annually in the steppes, and Saharan zones receive less than 1 inch (25 mm). In the Sahara, 200 consecutive rainless days in a year have been recorded in many areas, and the worlds highest degree of aridity has been recorded at Sabh, which averages only 0.4 inch (10 mm) of precipitation annually. Average temperatures at Sabh are in the low 50s F (low 10s C) in January and in the upper 80s F (low 30s C) in July, but these averages mask the fact that temperatures may vary enormously over the course of a day. The dry climate is exacerbated by the ghibli, a hot, arid wind that blows from the south over the entire country several times a year. It is usually preceded by a short lull in the prevailing winds, followed by the full force of the ghibli. The wind carries large quantities of sand dust, which turns the sky red and reduces visibility to less than 60 feet (18 metres). The heat of the wind is increased by a rapid drop of relative humidity, which can fall dramatically within hours.

In years of ample precipitation, the coastal plains are covered with herbaceous vegetation and annual grasses; the most noticeable plants are the asphodel (an herb of the lily family) and jubule. The northern area of the Akhar Mountainswhere the influence of the Mediterranean is most dominantsupports low and relatively dense forest (or maquis) of juniper and lentisc. Annual plants are abundant and include brome grass, canary grass, bluegrass, and rye grass. The forest becomes more scattered and stunted south of the mountain crest, and annual plants are less frequent. In the west, plant life is more sparse on the Nafsah Plateau, where grasslands lie between the barren hills.

In the semiarid steppes, vegetation is also sparse, characterized by pockets of isolated drought-resistant plants. The most commonly found species are saltwort (a plant used in making soda ash) and spurge flax (a shrubby plant), while goosefoot, wormwood, and asphodel also are widespread. Annual grasses grow in the rainy season, and leguminous plants appear in years of good precipitation. Although precipitation is extremely low in the true desert zone and the vegetation cover is scant, some plants from the semiarid region penetrate the occasional wadi valley, and date palms are grown in the southern oases.

Wild animals include desert rodents, such as the desert hare and the jerboa; hyenas; foxes, such as the fennec and the red fox; jackals; skunks; gazelles; and wildcats. The poisonous adder and krait are among the reptiles that inhabit the scattered oases and water holes. Native birds include the wild ringdove, the partridge, the lark, and the prairie hen. Eagles, hawks, and vultures are also common.

Almost all Libyans speak Arabic, the countrys official language. They claim descent from the Bedouin Arab tribes of the Ban Hill and the Ban Sulaym, who are said to have invaded the Maghrib in the 11th century. The governments embrace of Arab nationalism has reduced Western influences, although English is still widely used as a second language in international business and politics. At the beginning of the 21st century, Libyas population included a substantial number of foreign migrant workerslargely from sub-Saharan African countriestemporarily residing in the country. The tribe (qablah), a form of social organization that allowed the grouping of nomadic peoples scattered across the countrys vast spaces, was the foundation of social order for much of Libyas history.

The Imazighen (Berbers) are believed to have been the earliest inhabitants of Libya. The main Amazigh (plural Imazighen) groups were the Luata, the Nefusa, and the Adassa. They lived in coastal oases and practiced sedentary agriculture. Most Imazighen have been assimilated into Arab society except in the Nafsah Plateau region, Awjilah, Hn, Socra, and Zuwrah. The Imazighen of Libya speak languages that are classified as Afro-Asiatic but have adopted the Arabic alphabet. Many are bilingual in Nafusi (an Amazigh language) and Arabic; most are Sunni Muslims. There is also a community of some 30,000 people once called Gypsies but known in North Africa as Dom (see also Roma), who speak Domari (an Indo-European language).

Arab migrations to the region began with the rise of Islam in the 7th century. The initial Arab incursions were essentially military and had little effect upon the composition of the population. Oral tradition suggests that invasions of the Ban Hill in 1049 and the Ban Sulaym later in the 11th century took major migrations of nomadic tribes from eastern Arabia to Libya. However, scholarship later suggested that these movements too were not invasions but rather slow migrations of Arab peoples that occurred over several centuries.

The Ban Sulaym were composed of four main groupsthe Ban Hebib, the Awf, the Debbab, and the Zegb. The Hebib settled in Cyrenaica, while the others went to Tripolitania. The arrival of these and other Arab groups led to political upheaval and the steady Arabization of Libyas Amazigh populations. The result was that by the 20th century the great majority of Libyas inhabitants were Arabic-speaking Muslims of mixed descent.

Several other social groups exist alongside the tribes. Among these are the sharifs (holy tribes), who came originally from the Fezzan. The sharifs claim direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad; their alleged blood relationship with the Prophet gives them a powerful standing in Muslim society. Extensive tracts of land in the oases of western Libya are under sharifian control.

The marabouts (Muslim religious leaders credited with supernatural powers) arrived in Libya from Saguia el-Hamra, in what is now Western Sahara. The maraboutic tribes are descended from holy men who also claimed a privileged relationship with Muhammad. They believed in an ascetic life, manifested by their hermit lifestyle. In areas where their teachings and way of life made them acceptable to the local inhabitants, they settled and founded tribes pledged to the pure way of life.

The Koulouglis are descended from the Janissaries (elite Turkish soldiers who ruled Libya following the Ottoman conquest) and the Amazigh and Christian slave women with whom they intermarried. They have served since Ottoman times as a scribal class and are concentrated in and around villages and towns. They speak Arabic and practice Islam.

The trans-Saharan slave trade, which continued through the early 20th century, took black Africans and their cultures to Libya, particularly to the Fezzan and Tripolitania. Though they previously spoke Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Congo languages of the central Sahara and eastern Sudan, today they speak Arabic and have adopted Islam.

Small groups of Tuareg nomads live in the southwest, especially around the oases of Ghadmis and Ght. They are gradually assuming a sedentary lifestyle. In the southeast, isolated nomadic Teda (Tubu) communities are slowly gravitating toward the north and the Al-Kufrah oasis in search of employment.

Most Libyans are Muslim, and the vast majority are Sunnis. There are also very small minorities of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians. In Cyrenaica the influence of the Sansiyyah, a 19th-century militant Islamic brotherhood, remains strong. Although a Jewish minority was long established in Tripolitania, most Jews left the country in the late 1960s, many of them immigrating to Italy.

The majority of the population lives in Tripolitania, mainly in Tripoli and other cities along the coast and on the Nafsah Plateau. A smaller proportion of the people live in Cyrenaica, primarily in Banghz and other coastal cities. The remainder of the population is found in the oasis towns of the Fezzan.

The vast majority of the rural population lives in oases on the coast and is engaged in irrigation farming; plots of land are usually small and held in individual ownership. On the Nafsah Plateau, however, where water is less readily available, a sophisticated agrarian system based on olive- and fruit-tree cultivation and associated livestock raising has evolved. In Cyrenaica, the premodern economy was based on nomadic and seminomadic pastoralism. Arable farming has largely been an adjunct of the pastoral system, with shifting dry-land cultivation rarely entailing sedentary farming. In this zone, land ownership is no longer exclusively communal. In southern Libya, isolated irrigated farming in the oases constitutes a third economic system with roots in the premodern era.

The most common mode of life in rural Libya is sedentary cultivation. In the oases most farmers rely on irrigation, and water is raised from shallow wells either by the animal-powered dal (a goatskin bag drawn by rope over a pulley) or, increasingly, by electric or diesel pumps. Landholdings in the oases are small and fragmented; the average farm of five to seven acres (two to three hectares) is usually divided into three or four separate parcels. In the coastal regions, lowland farmers normally live on their own plots but enjoy rights to graze stock and undertake shifting grain cultivation on communally held land. In Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, most Arab farmers tend to live on plots of between 12 and 600 acres (5 and 240 hectares) that were once part of large estates belonging to Italian settlers.

Pastoral nomadism is practiced in the arid and semiarid regions, particularly in the Akhar Mountains and surrounding steppe lands in Cyrenaica. Nomadic groups subsist primarily on their herds of sheep, goats, and camels but also practice shifting cereal cultivation. These Bedouins move south as soon as pasture sprouts in the fall and remain there until the grasslands disappear and necessitate their return to the northern hills.

Fixed, permanently occupied villages were not typical features of nomadic life among the Bedouins of the Libyan steppe and desert, although towns have existed in the coastal zones since Phoenician, Greek, and Roman times. With the arrival of the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century, however, the new authorities founded towns and villages in the hinterland and desert that served as military posts or administrative centres; some of these sites have been occupied ever since. Other smaller, temporary settlements began as gathering places for nomadic tribes during periods of summer residence in the oases or in pastures in the hills. In the west, however, Amazigh populations are thought to have maintained a more or less continuous series of fortified nucleated villages in the western Nafsah Plateau. In the southern oases, the villages served both as defense posts for the scattered communities and as watering and provisioning points on the trans-Saharan caravan routes. Since independence and the discovery of oil in the mid-20th century, economic development has led to the expansion of villages into towns and has attracted migrants from rural areas to these growing urban centres.

The two main cities are Tripoli and Banghz. They contain about one-third of the countrys entire urban population and about one-fourth of the total population. Tripoli, with a metropolitan population of more than two million people, is the de facto political capital and the most important economic centre. Banghz, with its metropolitan area of more than one million people, is the primary city in Cyrenaica. The modern cities have developed around the old city centres (medinas), with satellite towns and villages in surrounding oases. Shantytowns housing recent rural-to-urban migrants are also found near the two cities, although the government has built low-income housing.

Other important centres include Gharyn, Al-Khums, Mirtah, Tjr, Sq al-Jumah, Janzr, and Al-Zwiyah in the west and Ajdbiy, Al-Marj, Al-Bay, Darnah, and Tobruk (ubruq) in the east. These cities are primarily regional administrative and commercial centres with some light industry. Several have petroleum refineries and petrochemical installations.

Libyas rate of population growth is among the highest in North Africa. The influx of foreign workers into the country since the 1960s accounts for part of this rapid growth, but Libyas annual rate of natural increase (birth rate minus death rate) has also been quite high. In the late 20th century and into the early 21st, death rates steadily declined to substantially below the world average, but birth rates remained relatively high. On the whole, Libyas population is quite young: more than half of the population is younger than 30 years of age; of that, about one-fourth is younger than 15. Libyas infant mortality rate is the lowest in continental Africa and far below the global rate, portending continued rapid growth well into the 21st century.

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Libya | History, People, & Government | Britannica.com

FLASHBACK: Obama Called Libya A ‘Shit Sh | The Daily Caller

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Following President Trumps Thursday comments, its worth noting that former President Obama called the African country of Libya a shit show just two years ago.

The comments were recorded in an interview with The Atlantic. The wide-ranging interview was based on Obamas foreign policy over his eight years in office. During one portion of the interview, Obama said described Libya as a mess to the interviewer but behind closed doors called the country a shit show.

RELATED:

According to the Atlantic:

So we actually executed this plan as well as I could have expected: We got a UN mandate, we built a coalition, it cost us $1 billion which, when it comes to military operations, is very cheap. We averted large-scale civilian casualties, we prevented what almost surely would have been a prolonged and bloody civil conflict. And despite all that, Libya is a mess.

Messis the presidents diplomatic term; privately, he calls Libya a shit show, in part because its subsequently become anISIShaven one that he has already targeted with air strikes. It became a shit show, Obama believes, for reasons that had less to do with American incompetence than with the passivity of Americas allies and with the obdurate power of tribalism.

The comments received little coverage when made public at the end of Obamas term.

Food for thought.

Continued here:
FLASHBACK: Obama Called Libya A 'Shit Sh | The Daily Caller