The Zintan Brigades are armed units linked to the town of Zintan and its surrounding area, allied to, but separate from, the

Libyan National Army The Libyan National Army (LNA; ar, الجيش الوطني الليبي, ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii'') is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa ...

. They played a large part in the Libyan Revolution which overthrew

Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

and are currently heavily involved in the

2014 Libyan Conflict {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Second Libyan Civil War , partof = the Arab Winter, Libyan Crisis, Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, War on terror, and Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomatic conflict , image ...

on the anti-Islamist side. They are considered politically moderate/liberal within the Libyan political spectrum.

Organization

The Zintan Brigades are under the leadership of the Zintan Revolutionaries' Military Council and currently consist of: * The Lightning Bolt (''Sawaiq'') Brigade * The '' Qaaqaa'' Brigade * The Civic Brigade (لواء المدني) The Airport Security Battalion (for

Tripoli International Airport Tripoli International Airport () is a closed international airport built to serve Tripoli, the capital city of Libya. The airport is located in the area of Qasr bin Ghashir, from central Tripoli. It used to be the hub for Libyan Airlines, ...

) was linked to the Zintan Brigades, but its current status is uncertain.

History

The Zintan Revolutionaries' Military Council was formed in May 2011 to organize the military efforts and effectiveness of 23 militias in Zintan and the Nafusa mountains. The Council is one of the strongest militias in Libya. Zintani Brigades detained

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi ( ar, سيف الإسلام معمر القذافي; born 25 June 1972) is a Libyan political figure. He is the second son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He was a p ...

after his capture in November 2011. One of its leaders, Osama al-Juwali, served as the Libyan defense minister from November 2011 to November 2012. The brigade is currently led by Mukhtar Kalifah Shahub, a former Libyan navy officer. The group has various Arabic-language media outlets. These include a satellite channel called Libya al-Watan and several websites and pages on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

. The Zintan Brigades have been a major part of the conflict since the launch of Operation Dawn against

, because they were responsible for its defense.

References

{{Reflist Military of Libya National Liberation Army (Libya) First Libyan Civil War Rebel groups in Libya