Tunisian Civil War

The Tunisian Civil War was a large-scale multilateral intrastate armed conflict that pitted the Tunisian government under Kais Saied (and, after December 2024, Saiedist loyalists), against the Tunisian opposition, most united under the United Front for the Salvation of Tunisia (UFST; usually called the Jabhat Muahada or just the Muahada). Beginning in the aftermath of the October 2024 presidential elections (which were generally deemed to be rigged), it saw a well-coordinated military uprising and offensive by anti-government military elements loyal to the Jabhat Muahada seize most of northern Tunisia, including Bizerte, Beja, and El Kef, in November. An uprising in Tunis against Saied would oust him the following month, forcing him into exile in Turkey. In the face of the power vacuum in Tunisia that followed Saied's ouster, Islamist groups (mainly the Islamic State and Ansar al-Sharia) began an uprising against the administration of the Jabhat Muahada in February, seizing the area around Chott El Djerid and entrenching themselves there. As violence related to the conflict between the Jabhat Muahada intensified, Saiedist loyalist groups began operating as guerilla insurgents. The resulting civil war caused a massive refugee crisis, and plunged the nation into civil war for four years.
==Background==
Tensions had been rising within Tunisia ever since 25 July, 2021, when Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed the cabinet of Hichem Mechichi, dismissed and later dissolved the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, and announced that he would rule by decree, in a self-coup. Despite appointing a new cabinet under Najla Bouden, and reconvening the Assembly in March of 2023, Saied's actions sparked a series of anti-coup protests, especially as economic downturn in Tunisia continued. Erosion of political and judicial freedoms followed, with many opposition leaders being arrested for their opposition to the self-coup, the Supreme Judicial Council being dissolved and many judges arrested or dismissed, and greater media restrictions being imposed.
Category:Africa
Category:Civil Wars
Category:Tunisia