Jihadist actors in the conflict of Libya

Introduction
Following the violent demise of Muammar al-Qaddafi in October 2011, the country of Libya on the
shores of the Mediterranean has fallen in turmoil. Ever since, the efforts of the local government to
instate functioning institutions and enforce peace and stability in the country have all been
unsuccessful.1 The ongoing infighting that has occurred when al-Qaddafi was killed binds together the
influences of tribal, political and religious lines along with the regional ones. The present actors went
onto creating mutual coalitions that started creating the discourse of the regional events that continued
to shape the way that the country of Libya has gone on. This unrest, however, has provided radical
islamist groups, also called as jihadist groups, an ideal mycelium from where to start growing their
influence on what goes not only in the country itself, but also what goes on in the region as such. 2
This essay is devoted to mapping the regional events in northern Africa. It primarily focuses on the
jihadist actors in the ongoing conflict and how they influence it. This essay also provides the reader
with a history insight, while offering a viable solution of the conflict as well.
I hereby solemnly proclaim that this work is a work of my own and that in creating this essay, I have
not used any technology that could be viewed as a technology of generative AI.

History background
Ever since the Arab Spring in the year of 2011 and subsequent overthrow and murder of the leader
Muammar al-Qaddafi, the unrest in the country of Libya has been developing. However, the main
breakthrough took place in 2014, when Ahmed Maiteeq, politician backed by Misrata-based Islamist
groups, was elected the prime minister of the country.3 His rise to power was however opposed by the
Libyan army's high-flying executives, the most important of them being General Khalifa Haftar. In
May of 2014, he launched an operation aimed to eradicate the strongholds of jihadi radicals in the city
of Benghazi on the shores of the Mediterranean. The operation with the name “Dignity”. This
operation, despite being large-scaled, has failed in the efforts of controlling the area. 4
In the autumn of 2014, another key player had joined the game. Islamic State in Libya, known as
ISIL, had invaded the coastal city of Sirte. The ISIS branch gained support of the city of Derna ́s
islamist groups, when they pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. 5 Despite ISILs initial success, the
organization had been driven out of the city by countering operations in 2016, which subsequently
resulted in scattering of its forces and reducing it into a cluster of small cells stationed throughout the
country. This, however, has not stopped the organization from conducting attacks and other
operations in Libya, while not being afraid at all to attack important institutions even in the capital of

1 “Civil Conflict in Libya | Global Conflict Tracker.” Council on Foreign Relations. Accessed January
14, 2024. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/civil-war-libya.
2 ibid
3 “Libya: A Short Guide to the Conflict.” Rulac. Accessed January 14, 2024.
https://www.rulac.org/publications/libya-a-short-guide-to-the-conflict.
4 HousamNajjair. “Dignity Operation Forces Suffer More Deaths and Casualties in Clashes in
Benghazi.” The Libya Observer. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/dignity-
operation-forces-suffer-more-deaths-and-casualties-clashes-benghazi.
5 “Libya: A Short Guide to the Conflict.” Rulac. Accessed January 14, 2024.
https://www.rulac.org/publications/libya-a-short-guide-to-the-conflict.
Tripoli, such as the National Oil Corporation in 2018 that resulted in the killing of two and harming a
dozen.6
These activities have been the reason for the LNA (Libyan National Army) to intervene. In 2019, it
increased the offensive efforts under the command of Khalifa Haftar, the man behind the attack on
jihadist-held Benghazi. That year, LNA conducted offensive operations in the capital of Tripolis,
while also claiming that it will clean the western parts of the country from the jihadist radicals and
bring peace to the region. In the opposition of Haftar stood the UN, whose chief Antonio Guterrés
personally flew to Tripolis to meet with Haftar and talk him out of his war-leading ambitions. 7
Despite this meeting, the war had continued. Against the LNA stood the GNA (Government of
National Accord), with the two sides each accusing the other of vainly prolonging the conflict.
Moreover, in the year 2019, the conflict has partially left the rural areas, moving rather into the urban
areas of the country.8 This change has brought even more casualties, primarily among the civilian
population. It has also forced many to leave their homes and move into safer areas.
In the year after, the Libyan Civil War ended. The GNA had declared an unilateral peace, which
general Haftar reacted to by ending the oil blockade that had started several years before and hindered
the civilian population in accessing the oil reserves of the country, moreover affecting its ability to use
these resources. These steps led to a ceasefire that has led to maintaining relative peace since those
days.9 However, the days of the conflict on the shores of the Mediterranean don't seem to come to an
end.

Current jihadist actors

This segment focuses on mapping the presence of radical islamist groups in the country. Before I list
them, I find it necessary to specify what is meant by this term. For the sake of this work, I will be
using this definition - jihadist actor is an actor whose primary ideology that it represents is a radical
form of islam, regardless of its respective goal.
The situation in Libya is still very unstable. The power in the country is in fact divided into many
parts, with three governments controlling parts of the country, while others are controlled by other,
oftentimes radical, groups.10 During the civil war, there were two major actors, as mentioned above.
After the civil war ended, instead of the times of peace, even more unrest had settled in the country.
These days, the power is scattered among armed groups, so called “city-states”, and also the local
tribes that are scattered throughout the country. Also, the role of other local actors - such as Egypt,
UAE or Turkey - is also very significant. This essay will only focus on jihadist actors, as per the
definition written above.

6 Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères. “Libya – Terrorist Attack on the National Oil
Corporation (NOC) (10.09.18).” France Diplomacy - Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Accessed
January 14, 2024. https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/libya/news/2018/article/libya-
terrorist-attack-on-the-national-oil-corporation-noc-10-09-18.
7 Salyk-Virk, Melissa. “The Conflicts in Libya from 2011-2020.” JSTOR, May 26, 2020.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25414.6?seq=1.
8 “Libya: 2019 Year in Review - Libya.” ReliefWeb, March 12, 2020.
https://reliefweb.int/report/libya/libya-2019-year-review.
9 “Civil Conflict in Libya | Global Conflict Tracker.” Council on Foreign Relations. Accessed January
14, 2024. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/civil-war-libya.
10 A quick guide to Libya’s main players - European Council on foreign ... Accessed January 14,
2024. https://ecfr.eu/archive/page/-/Lybias_Main_Players_Dec2016_v2.pdf.
Special Deterrent Force (SDF)/RADA
Radical islamist group formed in Tripoli before al-Qaddafi was overthrown. This was an act that
RADA directly contributed to.11 This group is led by Abdul Raouf Kara. It is considered to be a
“governmental” type of organisation, as it had been born as a special forces and military police unit.
Currently, it is a part of the Libyan Ministry of Interior as an independent unit. 12 Its original purpose,
tackling crime such as drug, weapons or people smuggling or murders investigation had partially
stepped down before the ideology that this organisation enforces nowadays. Its current activities
include, however, are not limited to investigating the dissent activities in Tripoli while also tackling
the non-islamic activities in Libya. Moreover, this group is heavily invested in fighting the Libyan
National Army.13
It is estimated that this group counts around 1500 members, being probably the third biggest militia in
Tripoli. Vast majority of its personnel are legitimate police officers, many of them having many years
of experience thanks to serving even before al-Qaddafi was overthrown.
Even despite the change of narrative of the organisation that I have mentioned above, it is still
invested in investigation and other police work. However, its current operations are heavily influenced
by the law of Sharia.
Among its notorious deeds from the past, there is the raid that was conducted on Libyan Comiccon in
2017. This event was attended by a sum of people between 2000 and 3000.
RADA had accused the hosts of keeping "satanic, pornographic, and masonic material that intended
to corrupt the morals of the youth and the Libyan people, influenced by western culture" 14
This raid, however, was rather a consequence of blatant misunderstanding. RADA was alarmed after
Facebook groups mistakenly considered Comiccon to be a Halloween event and therefore hosting
pagan narratives, which is something that RADA is heavily invested in exterminating.
When the RADA corps arrived, however, their actions were rather bizarre. The corps had torn down
foam board images of Marvel and DC superheroes, proclaimed the Disney-related items to be
“haram” for supposedly representing false idols and after demanding an immediate removal of
Japanese inscriptions for being distantly similar to Christian crosses and closing Korean-Japanese
booth that was selling kimonos and accusing it of spreading Buddhism, RADA refused to elaborate
further and left.15
As a consequence to this heist, the organisers of Comiccon faced legal consequences for alleged
“violating public morals”.16
Nowadays, this organisation primarily operates in the city of Tripoli, while also conducting operations
in other cities such as Benghazi or Zawiah. In the capital, it primarily clashes with the 444th brigade
despite both belonging to the same faction.17 The recent clash of August 2023 had been caused by

11 “Rada Special Deterrence Forces.” Wikiwand. Accessed January 14, 2024.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/RADA_Special_Deterrence_Forces.
12 ibid
13 ibid
14 Libyan Express. “Libya Special Deterrent Force Shuts down Comic Con Convention in Tripoli,
Arrests Organisers.” Libyan Express, May 21, 2019. https://www.libyanexpress.com/libya-special-
deterrent-force-shuts-down-comic-con-convention-in-tripoli-arrests-organisers/. Citation.
15 Africatimes.com. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://africatimes.com/2017/11/10/after-libya-
comic-con-arrests-still-no-official-word-on-detained-organizers/.
16 ibid
17 Peoples Dispatch. “27 Dead and over 100 Injured in Fighting between Two Militias Loyal to Libya’s
Tripoli-Based Government.” Peoples Dispatch, August 16, 2023.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/08/16/27-dead-and-over-100-injured-in-fighting-between-two-
militias-loyal-to-libyas-tripoli-based-government/.
RADA arresting Mohammed Hamza, the chief of 444th brigade. After this clash, which had killed 55,
he was released again.
RADA poses a huge threat to Libyan security, despite being a governmental organisation. This differs
it from the other groups that are being listed in this essay.

The Islamic State Group in Libya

Also called Tandhim ad-Dawla (the Organisation of the State) by Libyans, ISIS now controls the
central Mediterranean coast of Libya around the city of Sirte. It was originally formed in the city of
Dernah by the Libyan returnees from the war of Syria. This group consequently pledged allegiance to
the warmonger Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS. The birth of this organisation is also often
linked to the assassination of al-Qaddafi, who, during his rule of 42 years, forced the islamists to either
leave the country or hide from the public. After the dictator died, however, these people reemerged from
the hiding and started conducting its operations again.18
Despite counting only several tens of fighters, this group has hundreds of supporters scattered all
around the country. Moreover, this group is supported by other related groups from the lands of
Africa and the Middle East.19
The ultimate goals of this organisation are equivalent to the goals of other branches of ISIS, namely
consolidating the territory in the given country (Libya in this case) and even expanding its power to other
countries. This organisation poses a grave threat to the UN-backed government, while it is proposing a
brand new order for the country of Libya - it aims to establish three provinces that would fall directly
under the control of ISIS - Barqah, Fezzan and Tripolitania.20
In terms of financing, the system utilised by this organisation is very similar to the system of revenue-
generating of other radical islamist groups, like black-market activities, kidnapping, ransom and other
illegal methods.
This group is notorious for conducting terrorist attacks all around the country, such as the attack of 18th
April 2022 when it detonated a car bomb which resulted in killing of a man.21 As a consequence of this
attack, a military operation in order to exterminate the ranks of IS Libya was launched. Despite being
unsuccessful, it has even weakened the ranks of ISIS in Libya and forced it to retreat and regroup.
Despite its relatively small size, the IS Libya still poses a huge threat to the security and stability of the
land of Libya and its operations may still put countless people in danger. Despite the fact that the force of
ISIS has been reduced recently, the ongoing instability of Libya may again lead to reinstating ISIS
structures in the country.

Conclusion
The internal turmoil of Libya keeps on raging. Even years after the killing of Mohammad al-Qaddafi,
the infighting still does not seem to come to an end. To this state also contributes the fact that the
actors that are being listed in this essay are only a few from countless actors that are being active in
Libya nowadays. Among these, however, not all are devoted to the ideas related to conducting Jihad
in Libya and are therefore not considered to be radical islamist. It is however important to remember
that these groups and formations are not the single danger for the safety of Libya and that it is rather

18 “Libya’s Islamists: Who They Are - and What They Want.” Wilson Center. Accessed January 14,
2024. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/libyas-islamists-who-they-are-and-what-they-want.
19 ibid
20 ibid
21 Crisis24. “Libya: Self-Styled Libyan National Army Launches Operation Following Bomb Attack
April 18 in Umm al-Aranib.” Crisis24, April 19, 2022. https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2022/04/libya-
self-styled-libyan-national-army-launches-operation-following-bomb-attack-april-18-in-umm-al-aranib.
vain to view the situation in the country in the lens of good and evil. Each of the groups has blood on
their hands and in a way contributes to further destabilising the area.
The solution to the Libyan problem does not seem to appear and the only thing that Europe, the US
and the rest of the world may hope for is that it appears soon and that this area does not turn into
another barrel of black powder.

Sources Used

1. “Civil Conflict in Libya | Global Conflict Tracker.” Council on Foreign Relations. Accessed
January 14, 2024. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/civil-war-libya.
2. “Libya: A Short Guide to the Conflict.” Rulac. Accessed January 14, 2024.
https://www.rulac.org/publications/libya-a-short-guide-to-the-conflict.
3. HousamNajjair. “Dignity Operation Forces Suffer More Deaths and Casualties in Clashes in
Benghazi.” The Libya Observer. Accessed January 14, 2024.
https://libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/dignity-operation-forces-suffer-more-deaths-and-casualties-
clashes-benghazi.
4. Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères. “Libya – Terrorist Attack on the National Oil
Corporation (NOC) (10.09.18).” France Diplomacy - Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
Accessed January 14, 2024.
https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/libya/news/2018/article/libya-terrorist-attack-
on-the-national-oil-corporation-noc-10-09-18.
5. Salyk-Virk, Melissa. “The Conflicts in Libya from 2011-2020.” JSTOR, May 26, 2020.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25414.6?seq=1.
6. “Libya: 2019 Year in Review - Libya.” ReliefWeb, March 12, 2020.
https://reliefweb.int/report/libya/libya-2019-year-review.
7. A quick guide to Libya’s main players - European Council on foreign ... Accessed January 14,
2024. https://ecfr.eu/archive/page/-/Lybias_Main_Players_Dec2016_v2.pdf.
8. Rada Special Deterrence Forces.” Wikiwand. Accessed January 14, 2024.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/RADA_Special_Deterrence_Forces.
9. Libyan Express. “Libya Special Deterrent Force Shuts down Comic Con Convention in Tripoli,
Arrests Organisers.” Libyan Express, May 21, 2019. https://www.libyanexpress.com/libya-
special-deterrent-force-shuts-down-comic-con-convention-in-tripoli-arrests-organisers/.
10. Africatimes.com. Accessed January 14, 2024. https://africatimes.com/2017/11/10/after-libya-
comic-con-arrests-still-no-official-word-on-detained-organizers/.
11. Peoples Dispatch. “27 Dead and over 100 Injured in Fighting between Two Militias Loyal to
Libya’s Tripoli-Based Government.” Peoples Dispatch, August 16, 2023.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/08/16/27-dead-and-over-100-injured-in-fighting-between-
two-militias-loyal-to-libyas-tripoli-based-government/.
12. “Libya’s Islamists: Who They Are - and What They Want.” Wilson Center. Accessed January
14, 2024. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/libyas-islamists-who-they-are-and-what-they-
want.
13. Crisis24. “Libya: Self-Styled Libyan National Army Launches Operation Following Bomb
Attack April 18 in Umm al-Aranib.” Crisis24, April 19, 2022.
https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2022/04/libya-self-styled-libyan-national-army-launches-
operation-following-bomb-attack-april-18-in-umm-al-aranib.