, image = , alt = , caption = , image2 = , alt2 = , caption2 = , motto = , founded = , current_form = 2014 ( Libyan National Army)
2016 ( Libyan Army) , disbanded = , branches = Libyan National Army (HoR-backed)
Libyan Army (GNU-backed)

, headquarters = Tripoli ( GNU-backed)
Tobruk ( HoR-backed) , flying_hours = , website = , commander-in-chief = Mohamed al-Menfi ( Government of National Unity)
Khalifa Haftar ( Libyan National Army) , commander-in-chief_title = , chief minister = , chief minister_title = , minister = , minister_title = Minister of Defence , chief_of_staff = , chief_of_staff_title = , commander = Abdulrahman Al-Tawil , commander_title = Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces , age = 18 (2012) , conscription = , manpower_data = , manpower_age = , available = , available_f = , fit = , fit_f = , reaching = , reaching_f = , active = cc 32,000+(GNU-backed Libyan Armed forces)
cc 100,000+ (HoR-backed Libyan National Army) , ranked = , reserve = , deployed = , amount = , percent_GDP = , domestic_suppliers = , foreign_suppliers = Historic:

, imports = , exports = , history = , ranks =

Military ranks of Libya The Military ranks of Libya are the military insignia used by the Libyan Armed Forces. The rank insignia was inspired by the armed forces of the United Kingdom, which trained the forces of the Kingdom of Libya during its Allied occupation up until ...

The Libyan Armed Forces ( ar, القوات المسلحة الليبية) are, in principle, the state organisation responsible for the military defence of Libya, including ground, air and naval forces.Africa :: Libya -- The World Factbook
CIA. The original army under the Libyan monarchy of King Idris I was trained by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Since Muammar Gaddafi rose to power in 1969, Libya received military assistance from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. The Libyan military fought in several wars, including the Libyan–Egyptian War (1977) and the Chadian–Libyan conflict (1978–1987). After the 2011 civil war and the fall of Gaddafi, the armed forces consisted mostly of local militias that were frequently created or ceased to be active and made temporary shifting alliances. During 2015–2018, after Khalifa Haftar was appointed in 2015 by the Libyan parliament in Tobruk as the supreme commander of the armed forces, he unified many militias into a regular hierarchical structure in the eastern part of Libya that became known as the core of the Libyan National Army (LNA). , the regular core of the LNA (about soldiers) was complemented by Salafist militias and foreign mercenaries (about soldiers). , the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) retained formal control of the militias nominally constituting the Libyan Army, while the Libyan Air Force was split into LNA and GNA controlled components. The naval and coast guard forces were mostly under GNA control. with some coastal patrol boats under LNA control. In 2021, all the armed forces branches (except for the Haftar's forces) will under command of the new President of Libya, Mohamed al-Menfi from Government of National Unity after the Second Libyan Civil War ceasefire.

Kingdom of Libya (1951–1969)

The United Kingdom of Libya officially gained its independence from Italy on 24 December 1951. The kingdom was later renamed as the Kingdom of Libya in 1963. Under the Libyan monarchy, there existed a federal army and local provincial police forces. The U.S. State Department reported in 1957 that the army numbered 1,835 men, while the police forces had around 5,000–6,000. King Idris of Libya and his government relied on the police for internal security and were anxious to increase the size of the national army to 5,000 troops. The

had the primary role of training the Libyan Army, but the

also contributed to training a 1,035-man contingent and was considering taking responsibility for training the entire army. The U.S. also supplied the Royal Libyan Air Force, coming to an agreement in May 1957 to supply Libya with 10 Northrop F-5s.

Libyan Arab Republic and Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1969–2011)

A group of young officers and soldiers led by Muammar Gaddafi overthrew King Idris in a coup d'etat on 1 September 1969. The King's nephew and heir presumptive, Crown Prince Hasan, was captured by the rebels and spent several years under house arrest. The new Libyan Army under Gaddafi's Libyan Arab Republic fought a short border war with Egypt in July 1977, sent several thousand troops to support Idi Amin during the Uganda–Tanzania War in 1972 and again in 1978, and spent a decade trying to annex parts of northern Chad in 1978–1987. The Libyan army was estimated to have 50,000 total troops as of 2009.

Transition period (2011–2014)

During the 2011–2014 transition period, the Libyan armed forces consisted mostly of a shifting ensemble of militias being created and dissolved and creating and dropping alliances.

Units

17th Thunderbolt Special Forces Brigade

# based in Tripoli (2013).

27th Brigade

Leader: Mohammed Buzeiud; trained at Bassingbourn Barracks, UK (2014) # based in Tripoli (2013).

Second civil war (2014–2020)

, since the start of the Second Libyan Civil War in 2014, the Libyan armed forces, composed to a large degree of militias, have been partially led by the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, while remaining highly divided between those nominally led by the GNA and those nominally led by Khalifa Haftar in command of the Libyan National Army (LNA) on behalf of the part of the national parliament in Tobruk.Serraj appoints military chief of staff
''Libya Herald''. Published 1 September 2017. The forces included ground forces divided between the GNA-led Libyan Army (including militia coalitions such as the Tripoli Protection Force) and the LNA; the Libyan Air Force also divided between a GNA component and an LNA component; while the naval, and coast guard forces were mostly under GNA control with some coastal patrol boats under LNA control. Prime Minister

Fayez al-Sarraj Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj ( ar, فائز السراج or ; born 20 February 1960) is a Libyan politician who served as the Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya and Head of Government of the Government of National Accord from 2016 to 2021 ...

, the head of the GNA, is nominally the supreme commander of the GNA forces.PC President forms joint military operations room as war rocks Tripoli yet again
''Libya Observer''. Published 6 April 2019. The military is under the authority of the GNA Ministry of Defense, formerly led by Colonel

Al-Mahdi Al-Barghathi Al-Mahdi Al-Barghathi is a Libyan National Army officer who served as the Minister of Defense in the Libyan Government of National Accord, from January 2016 until July 2018. He is an army commander from eastern Libya who had formerly served under ...

from 2016Ayyub, Sabe
Opposing reactions to appointment of unity government’s defence minister
. ''Libya Herald''. Published 21 January 2016. to 2018, at which point Sarraj took over as defense minister.Libyan Presidential Council gives its Defense Minister the sack
''Libya Observer''. Published 29 July 2018. During 2015–2018, the LNA under Haftar's control unified many militias into a regular hierarchical structure in the eastern part of Libya and used

online social networks A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network perspectiv ...

to present the image of growing military and political power, while still remaining, , dominated by

Salafist The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generati ...

militias and foreign members. , the LNA consisted of about regular soldiers and militia and foreign members.

References

*https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1976TRIPOL01169_b.html - parade 1976 {{Military of Africa Military of Libya