Third Libyan Civil War

Location
 Result
  Libyan House of Representatives   Egypt   France
  Mushir Zayyaan al-Farhat   Admiral-General Mazen Aladeen   Admiral Alexandrine Tremblay

**The Third Libyan Civil War** was a conflict between a coalition backing the Libyan House of Representatives and a coalition backing the Libyan Government of National Accord, as well as warlords throughout the country. The conflict resulted in the Libyan House of Representatives taking power over the country.

## Background

Since the Second Libyan Civil War, which began in 2014 and ended in 2020, Libya was politically split between the Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli and *de jure* controlling the west of the country, and the House of Representatives (HoR), based in Tobruk. Although the GNA was the sole administration recognized by the United Nations, several states recognized the HoR as legitimate instead. Both governments maintained control over parts of the country. In addition, warlords, which gained greater power following the First Libyan Civil War and the vacuum following the collapse of the Gaddafi regime. In various capacities, most of these warlord factions fought on behalf of the GNA. In 2020, the civil war ended, but tensions and instability remained high.

Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were two countries concerned with Libyan affairs and often intervened during the Second Libyan Civil War for the HoR. Libya, a country known for its oil reserves, became the center of global attention during its conflicts. European interests especially are deeply invested in Libyan oil, and intervention to protect the country's stability often focuses on protecting that industry as a whole. Several European states intervened during the Second Libyan Civil War, both for the GNA and the HoR.

## The War

### Beginning of the War

The civil war, which began on Feb. 27th, 2023, was initiated with a large Egyptian force crossing the border. It became clear that they had been invited by the Libyan National Army, the military of the HoR. They quickly reinforced HoR controlled lands and began pushing. However, logistical challenges largely halted any substantial advances by the sixth hour of the invasion despite the immense strength of the Egyptian army. Outside Kufra, Egypt became bogged down in a siege, attempting to wrestle away control of the city from a local warlord militia. Toubou and Tuareg militias especially took advantage of the discombobulated HoR-aligned forces and managed to strengthen their own control of the borders. At Zintan, a large regiment of Egypt's forces were able to take Zintan, near Tripoli, but were outflanked and surrounded in the city. A long siege began.

The West African Federation and Tanzania immediately supported Egypt in the act, while Taiwan cut diplomatic ties with Egypt. Much of the international community ignored the act, given that the conflict was widely considered a continuation of warfare in Libya that could be stretched all the way back to the First Libyan Civil War.

### Fighting Continues

Egypt proved unable to make any major headway in the conflict for several months, even after assigning the prodigious Admiral General Aladeen to the forces in Libya. This was partially due to a large donation to the GNA by the Russian government. By June, Egyptian soldiers had only been able to make a little progress against the southern warlords and had no luck against the GNA along the northwest. On June 16th, Egypt initiated the Battle for Zintan with artillery and air strikes, which resulted in some alleviation for the trapped force but not the end of the siege. Warlords used the redirection of Egyptian air forces to fight through Tummo and Al Wigh Airbase. The warlords experienced far heavier casualties than the HoR coalition, but still were able to take control of the segment of land.

The crisis for Egypt, however, began to take a turn towards victory when other states began to intervene. France and Austria provided the HoR coalition with arms and munitions, and Austria sent neo-crusaders, a group of volunteer combatants, to Libya to fight with Egypt and the HoR. On Feb. 12th, 2024, France pledged military support to the HoR and Egypt, contributing planes to reinforce air superiority and blockading the GNA coastline. The French military also created a no-fly zone over all of Libya for non-HoR-aligned aircraft.

### End of the War and Battle for Tripoli

The Egyptian effort in Libya continued with the HoR coalition attempting to break the siege of its soldiers in Zintan. While the first campaign to do this only weakened the besieging warlords, the second attempt, backed by greater French and Algerian manpower, completely wiped out the warlord army, allowing for supplies to enter the city and the besieged soldiers to escape.

Egypt broke a partial siege around Tobruk by the GNA, giving the HoR greater military confidence. GNA-associated rebels attempted to conduct the encirclement once again, but to no avail. GNA forces were further caught off guard when the coalition pushed north towards Tripoli, eventually entering the city. The Battle of Tripoli began, and lasted on-and-off for over a year. Within the first month, the HoR coalition had established control over most of the city, including its center, with intermittent fighting in some districts, especially that of the capitol.

In December, 2025, the HoR coalition began a campaign to finalize the war. Marine bombardment of the chief naval shipyard on the coast left the GNA with little to any naval power. The same bombardment was less successful for land installations, but aerial bombings left those few defenses obliterated. GNA forces, retreating from Tripoli to attempt to establish defensive positions to regroup and retake the city were also destroyed. Land forces by the coalition defeated GNA and warlord armies and established control for the HoR over the vast majority of Libya, with few pockets in a couple of cities in the Sahara and Tripoli.

On Feb. 3, 2026, the HoR coalition finally took the city of Tripoli after weeks of fiercely intense street fighting. The GNA, which had been placed under arrest after key governmental buildings were taken over by the Egyptian military, announced a truce, which was formalized into a surrender two days later, on Feb. 5.

## Aftermath

The main consequence of the Third Libyan Civil War was for Egypt. The early failures of the intervention, combined with other factors, led to the government of el-Sisi becoming unpopular, with the opposition growing in size and protests breaking out. A similar impact was observed months later in France, where National Rally gained support for its opposition to the interventionist Macron administration.

Libya was able to centralize and create a blossoming, peaceful democracy under the House of Representatives.