Libyan National Army


The Libyan National Army is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar when he was nominated to the role on 2 March 2015 by the House of Representatives, consisting at the time of a ground force, an air force and a navy.
In 2014, LNA launched Operation Dignity, a military campaign against the General National Congress and armed [|militias] and Islamist militant organizations. When the internationally recognised Government of National Accord was established in Tripoli, part of the Libyan military forces were named the Libyan Army to contrast with the other part that retained the LNA identity. In the ongoing Civil War, the LNA is loyal to that part of the Libyan House of Representatives that meets in Tobruk, internationally recognised until October 2015. It fights against the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, as well as Islamic State in Libya which is a common enemy for both LNA and the Libyan Army.
About half of the LNA consists of militias including Madkhali militias and Sudanese, Chadian and Russian mercenaries, which together constitute part of the LNA's effective forces. The LNA possesses its own air force. Most of the Libyan Navy is loyal to the GNA.
Interventions in the political system by the LNA include the late 2016 replacement of nine elected municipal councils out of a total of 27, replacing elected mayors by mostly military individuals and, according to witnesses cited by The Independent, the 17 July 2019 abduction of House of Representatives member Seham Sergiwa at her home in Benghazi by the 106th Brigade. The LNA stated that it was not responsible for the Sergiwa abduction.

Name

In November 2019, the United Nations Panel of Experts on Libya established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 started using the name Haftar Armed Forces to replace the name Libyan National Army to refer to "all armed groups associated with Haftar". It also chose to use lower case regarding "brigades" and "battalions" in order to avoid giving them "the legitimacy of being a formed military unit of a government".

Structure

Leadership

was made head of the armed forces of Libya on 2 March 2015, remaining as leader of the Libyan National Army after the split between the LNA and the Government of National Accord., Major General Abdulrazek al-Nadoori was the chief of staff of the LNA. A lobbying firm was paid to lobby on his behalf for 12 months, starting 1 December 2017, in Washington, D.C. Mahmoud al-Werfalli, known internationally for his International Criminal Court arrest warrant under Article, was Axes Commander in the al-Saiqa unit of the LNA as of 2017.
Other senior leaders include:

Regular forces

, the LNA had about 7000 regular forces. These include:

106th Brigade

In April 2019, the 106th Brigade, also known as Awlia Aldem was led by Khaled, son of Khalida Haftar., the brigade's commander was Salem Rahil.
On 17 July 2019, according to witnesses cited by The Independent and a family member cited by CNN, 25–30 masked, uniformed 106th Brigade members abducted member of the Libyan House of Representatives Seham Sergiwa in Benghazi. The LNA stated that it was not responsible for the abduction.
, after multiple calls by UNSMIL for the LNA to investigate the disappearance, Sergiwa remained missing.
  1. 5500 infantry.
  2. 600 Officers.
  3. 90 Main Battle Tanks T72.
  4. 250 Armored Vehicles.BAE Caiman, Nimr, Panthera T6.
  5. 15 ZSU-23-4.
  6. 1700 Tactical Vehicles mounted with ZU-23-2, ZPU, DShK, M40 recoilless rifle and Type 63 multiple rocket launcher.
  7. 25 Palmaria.
  8. 4 MI-24.
  9. 2 Pantsir missile system.

    73rd Brigade Mechanized infantry

Leader: Saleh al-Quta'ani
  1. 7000 infantry.
  2. 350 Officers.
  3. 82 Main Battle Tanks.
  4. 150 Armored Vehicles,BAE Caiman, Nimr, Panthera T6.
  5. 1200 Tactical Vehicles mounted with ZU-23-2, ZPU,DShK, M40 recoilless rifle and Type 63 multiple rocket launcher.
  6. 25 Palmaria.

    Tareq ben Ziyad Brigade

Leader: Omar Mraje'

9th Brigade

Leader: Kani brothers; origin: Tarhuna
  1. 6500 infantry.
  2. 200 Officers.
  3. 82 Main Battle Tanks.
  4. 200 Armored Vehicles, BAE Caiman, Nimr, Panthera T6..
  5. 1200 Tactical Vehicles mounted with ZU-23-2, ZPU, DShK, M40 recoilless rifle and Type 63 multiple rocket launcher.
  6. 10 ZSU-23-4.
  7. 15 2S19 Msta.

    128th Battalion

Leader: Hassan al-Zadma; many Mahamid members

116th Battalion

Leader: Massoud Jiddu

124th Brigade

Leader:
  1. 2000 infantry.
  2. 80 Officers.
  3. 15 Main Battle Tanks
  4. 50 Armored Vehicles, BAE Caiman, Nimr, Panthera T6.
  5. 290 Tactical Vehicles mounted with ZU-23-2, ZPU, DShK, M40 recoilless rifle and Type 63 multiple rocket launcher.
  6. 6 Armoured personnel carriers.
  7. 5 2S19 Msta.
  8. 4 Palmaria.

    309th Brigade Mechanized infantry

Leader:
  1. 3000 infantry.
  2. 95 Officers.
  3. 25 Main Battle Tanks
  4. 35 Armored Vehicles, BAE Caiman, Nimr, Panthera T6.
  5. 890 Tactical Vehicles mounted with ZU-23-2, ZPU, DShK, M40 recoilless rifle and Type 63 multiple rocket launcher.
  6. 55 Armoured personnel carriers.

    1st Brigade

Leader:
  1. 2800 infantry.
  2. 100 Officers.
  3. 10 Main Battle Tanks
  4. 50 Armored Vehicles, BAE Caiman, Nimr, Panthera T6.
  5. 500 Tactical Vehicles mounted with ZU-23-2, ZPU, DShK, M40 recoilless rifle and Type 63 multiple rocket launcher.
  6. 15 Armoured personnel carriers.
  7. 3 2S19 Msta.
  8. 2 Palmaria.

    166th Brigade Mechanized infantry

Leader:
  1. 4000 infantry.
  2. 100 Officers.
  3. 50 Armored Vehicles, BAE Caiman, Nimr, Panthera T6.
  4. 790 Tactical Vehicles mounted with ZU-23-2, ZPU, DShK, M40 recoilless rifle and Type 63 multiple rocket launcher.
  5. 20 Armoured personnel carriers.

    188th Brigade infantry

Leader:
  1. 3500 infantry.
  2. 50 Officers.
  3. 390 Tactical Vehicles mounted with ZU-23-2, ZPU, DShK, M40 recoilless rifle and Type 63 multiple rocket launcher.

    5th Brigade infantry

Leader:
  1. 2500 infantry.
  2. 20 Officers.

    115th Brigade Mechanized infantry

Leader:

82th Brigade infantry

Leader:

Special forces

is an elite army unit, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. It numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It is popular in Benghazi, particularly in light of its opposition to Islamist Ansar al-Sharia group and because it is seen as a symbol of the reborn Libyan armed forces.

Militias

militias in the LNA include the Tawhid Battalion commanded by Izz al-Din al-Tarhuni; the Tariq Ibn Ziyad Brigade, the Subul al-Salam group and the al-Wadi Brigade. LNA groups from Sabratha, Sorman, Tiji and Badr, towns in which Madkhali preachers were active and supported Haftar, are mostly Madkhali Salafists.
During the 2019–20 Western Libya campaign, the LNA was allied with the al-Kaniyat militia in Tarhuna.
The number of auxiliary LNA forces was estimated in May 2019 as by Jason Pack of the Institute for International Political Studies.

Foreign mercenaries

Foreign mercenaries operating during 2019 Western Libya offensive on behalf of the LNA include Sudanese, Chadians and Russians.
Sudanese from the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army were present in Libya starting in March 2015 and fought on behalf of the LNA in 2016. SLM planned on leaving Libya in early 2017. Sudan Liberation Movement/Army fighters fought on behalf of the LNA, with personnel in Libya in mid-2016. Involvement of Sudanese mercenaries continued in 2018.
On 25 July 2019, 1000 members of the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces, widely attributed to be responsible for the 3 June 2019 Khartoum massacre, arrived in Libya and were expected to number 4000 in total.
Chadians from the Rally of Democratic Forces were recruited by the LNA in late 2015, especially in the southern part of Libya.
There were an estimated 200 Russian Wagner Group mercenaries in the LNA in 2019.

History

2011–2013

The Libyan National Army was founded in 2011 by the National Transitional Council, after forces aligned to it defeated the previous Libyan Army and overthrew Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Supply depots and bases having been damaged during the civil war, the new army is faced with the challenge of having to rebuild much of the country's military infrastructure. Yousef Mangoush was named as its first Chief of Staff on 2 January 2012 and the force saw its first major deployment on 23 February, when it was deployed to Kufra to intervene in a tribal conflict.
In November 2011, the National Transitional Council began the difficult process of restructuring the army, with military personnel who defected from the Gaddafi government and former rebel fighters of the National Liberation Army forming the basis of the new Libyan Army. Major General Khalifa Belgacem Haftar was chosen as the overall commander of the new Libyan Army due to his military experience and loyalty to the revolution that overthrew Gaddafi.
The Libyan Army only numbered "a few thousand" trained soldiers in November 2011, and was rapidly trying to train up new fighters who could keep the peace nationwide and deter rogue militias from acting without NTC orders, and was responsible for brokering a ceasefire on at least one occasion in November between warring militas from Zawiya and Al Maya.
On 1 December 2011, it was reported that the National Liberation Army was to integrate up to 50,000 former rebel fighters into the new Libyan national army and police forces, with the aid of French training, with long term aims to integrate as many as 200,000 fighters from the brigades that had fought against Gaddafi during the civil war.
In December 2011, Italy agreed to provide training to the Libyan Army as it attempted to reorganize in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Also in December, large numbers of former rebels were being given jobs in the new army, whilst the government also announced that they would be free to join the special forces and the Navy too. According to Osama al-Juwaili, the defence minister: "The idea is to inject new blood in the army which was marginalised by the tyrant "
General Yousef Mangoush said on 5 January 2012 that Libya's new army faces major obstacles such as rebuilding bases destroyed during the conflict, as well as disarming militias that were not part of the new army. National Army commander General Khalifa Haftar said later that it could take between three and five years for Libya to field a capable enough army to protect its borders.
On 7 May 2013, Libya's Defense Minister Mohammed al-Barghathi resigned due to a crisis caused by gunmen who have besieged two ministries for more than a week, a ministry official said. He later withdrew his resignation after Prime Minister Zeidan convinced him to stay.
Under an agreement reached at the Lough Erne G8 summit in June 2013, NATO countries the United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey, and the United States undertook to help train up to 15,000 personnel from Libyan National Army units over a two-year period. They were to take units from newly formed brigades for 10-week stints of intensive infantry training. The 27th Brigade was due to start at Bassingbourn in eastern England in January 2014. As a result of disorder and sexual assaults by some Libyan army cadets, the UK cancelled the programme in November 2014. The Libyan trainees were sent back to Libya, with the exception of five who were tried for sexual offenses.

2016 overthrow of mayors

In late 2016, Major-General Abdulrazek al-Nadoori of the LNA replaced several of the elected municipal mayors in eastern Libya by unelected people, mostly military. Altogether the LNA replaced nine elected councils, out of 27 in its area of control, by military administrators.

Equipment

Whilst it is known to a degree what equipment the Libyan National Army uses, the exact numbers of the below equipment currently in use is not known. What is certain is that a reasonable quantity of their equipment probably came from ransacked stocks of the original Libyan Army and from defectors as well.

Small arms

Technicals

A variety of pickup/utility vehicles, called technicals and gun trucks, often Toyota and other makers, armed with a variety of different weapons, including heavy machineguns, light MLRS' and anti-aircraft guns, most commonly used is the ZU-23-2 and the ZPU.

Tanks