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2011 military intervention in Libya

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2011 military intervention in Libya
Part of the First Libyan Civil War


Top: The no-fly zone over Libya as well as bases and warships which were involved in the intervention
Bottom: Coloured in blue are the states that were involved in implementing the no-fly zone over Libya (coloured in green)
Date19 March 2011 – 31 October 2011[4]
(7 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Location
Libya
Result

NATO Coalition/Anti-Gaddafi victory

Belligerents

 NATO[a]

 Jordan
 Qatar
 Sweden
 United Arab Emirates

Libya Anti-Gaddafi forces

 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

Commanders and leaders
Opération Harmattan:
France Nicolas Sarkozy
France Alain Juppé
France Édouard Guillaud
Operation Ellamy:
United Kingdom David Cameron
United Kingdom Liam Fox
United Kingdom David Richards
Operation Mobile:
Canada Stephen Harper
Canada Peter MacKay
Canada André Deschamps
Operation Odyssey Dawn:
United States Barack Obama
United States Hillary Clinton
United States Robert Gates
United States Carter Ham
Italy Silvio Berlusconi
Italy Ignazio La Russa
Italy Claudio Graziano
Operation Unified Protector:
NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen
United States James G. Stavridis
Canada Charles Bouchard
United States Ralph Jodice
Italy Rinaldo Veri		 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Muammar Gaddafi †[5]
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
 (POW)[6]
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Khamis Gaddafi †
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Al-Saadi Gaddafi
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr †[5]
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Ali Sharif al-Rifi
Strength
260 aircraft
21 ships[7]		 200 medium/heavy SAM launchers
220 light SAM launchers[8]
600 anti-aircraft guns[9]
Casualties and losses
None
None
1 USN MQ-8 shot down
3 Dutch Naval Aviators captured (later released)[10]
1 Royal Netherlands Navy Lynx captured[10]
1 USAF F-15E crashed (Mechanical failure)[11]
1 UAEAF F-16 damaged upon landing[12]

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 5,900 military targets including[7]

  • 600 tanks or armored vehicles
  • 400 artillery or rocket launchers
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Unknown number of soldiers killed or wounded (NATO claim)[13]
72+ civilians killed (according to Human Rights Watch)[14]
40 civilians killed in Tripoli (Vatican claim)[15]
223–403 likely civilian deaths (per Airwars)[16][17]
The US military claimed it had no knowledge of civilian casualties.[18]

On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led military intervention in Libya began in response to events during the First Libyan Civil War.

American and British naval forces fired over 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles, and imposed a naval blockade.[19] The French Air Force, British Royal Air Force, and Royal Canadian Air Force[20] forced sorties across Libya.[21][22][23]

The intervention did not have any foreign soldiers.[24][25]

The Libyan government was unable to fight this off as they were unable to shoot down a single NATO plane.[9][26]

Countries involved with the intervention at first were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Qatar, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.[27][28][29][30][31]

Fighting in Libya ended in late October after the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, and NATO said it would end operations over Libya on 31 October 2011. Libya's new government requested that its mission be extended to the end of the year,[32] but on 27 October, the Security Council voted to end NATO's mandate for military action on 31 October.[33]

It is reported that over the eight months, NATO members carried out 7,000 bombing sorties targeting Gaddafi's forces.[34]

Notes

[change | change source]
  1. ↑ Enforcing UNSC Resolution 1973

References

[change | change source]
  1. ↑ Blomfield, Adrian (23 February 2011). "Libya: Foreign Mercenaries Terrorising Citizens". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  2. ↑ HUMA KHAN; HELEN ZHANG (22 February 2011). "Moammar Gadhafi's Private Mercenary Army 'Knows One Thing: To Kill'". ABC News. Archived from the original on 8 April 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  3. ↑ Meo, Nick (27 February 2011). "African Mercenaries in Libya Nervously Await Their Fate". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 March 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  4. ↑ "Nato chief Rasmussen 'proud' as Libya mission ends". BBC News. 31 October 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Muammar Gaddafi Killed as Sirte Falls". Al Jazeera. 20 October 2011. Archived from the original on 23 October 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam captured in Libya". BBC News. 19 November 2011. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Operation Unified Protector Final Mission Stats" (PDF). NATO. 2 November 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  8. ↑ "The North African Military Balance", Anthony H. Cordesman, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 29 March 2005, p. 32, p. 36
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 M. Cherif Bassiouni, "Libya: From Repression to Revolution", 13 December 2013, p. 138
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Three Dutch Marines Captured During Rescue in Libya". BBC News. 3 March 2011. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  11. ↑ "US Crew Rescued after Libya Crash". BBC News. 22 March 2011. Archived from the original on 22 March 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  12. ↑ "UAE Fighter Jet Veers Off Runway at Base in Italy: Report". Zawya/AFP. 27 April 2011. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  13. ↑ "NATO: Gadhafi Forces Caught Mining Misrata Port". USA Today. Brussels. Associated Press. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  14. ↑ "Unacknowledged Deaths: Civilian Casualties in NATOs Air Campaign in Libya". Human Rights Watch. 14 May 2012. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  15. ↑ "Vatican: Airstrikes Killed 40 Civilians in Tripoli". The Jerusalem Post. 31 March 2011. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  16. ↑ Imhof, Oliver (March 18, 2021). "Ten years after the Libyan revolution, victims wait for justice". Airwars. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
  17. ↑ "All Belligerents in Libya, 2011".
  18. ↑ "Coalition Targets Gadhafi Compound". CNN. 16 March 2011. Archived from the original on 22 March 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
  19. ↑ "Libya Live Blog – March 19". Al Jazeera. 19 March 2011. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  20. ↑ "Libya: US, UK and France attack Gaddafi forces". BBC News. 20 March 2011. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
  21. ↑ "French Fighter Jets Deployed over Libya". CNN. 19 March 2011. Archived from the original on 22 March 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  22. ↑ "France Uses Unexplosive Bombs in Libya: Spokesman". Xinhua News Agency. 29 April 2011. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  23. ↑ Gibson, Ginger (8 April 2011). "Polled N.J. Voters Back Obama's Decision To Establish No-Fly Zone in Libya". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  24. ↑ Norton-Taylor, Richard (24 August 2011). "Nato will not put troops on ground in Libya". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
  25. ↑ "British and French special forces with Libya rebels | August 2011 news defense army military industry UK | Military army defense industry news year 2011". www.armyrecognition.com. 25 August 2011. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  26. ↑ Anthony H. Cordesman (29 March 2005). "The North African Military Balance" (PDF). Center for Strategic and International Studies. p. 32, p. 36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  27. ↑ "Qatar, several EU states up for Libya action: diplomat". EUbusiness.com. 19 March 2011. Archived from the original on 22 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  28. ↑ "Paris Summit Talks To Launch Military Action in Libya". European Jewish Press. 19 March 2011. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  29. ↑ "Libya: President Obama Gives Gaddafi Ultimatum". BBC News. 19 March 2011. Archived from the original on 19 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  30. ↑ "Libya: RAF Jets Join Attack on Air Defence Systems". WalesOnline. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  31. ↑ Batty, David (19 March 2011). "Military Action Begins Against Libya". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  32. ↑ "Libya's Mustafa Abdul Jalil asks Nato to stay longer". BBC. 26 October 2011. Archived from the original on 26 October 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  33. ↑ "UN Security Council votes to end Libya operations". BBC News. 27 October 2011. Archived from the original on 27 October 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  34. ↑ "All Belligerents in Libya, 2011". airwars.org. Retrieved 2022-07-15.


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