Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
In February 2011 started an upheavel and armed conflict against Muammar Qadaffi. Qadaffi, Libya's absolute ruler during 42 years, was killed in October 2011. This armed revolt is referred to as the first civil war in Libya.  Political and military factions engaged since 2011 in an ungoing struggle to get control over the Libyan territory in alliances with external actors. Since  February 2011,  the Libyan civil war went through different phases, including periods of intensified armed confrontations.The violent confrontations led to serious human rights abuses as well as war crimes. A second phase of intense fighting between rival factions seeking control of Libya, often referred to as the second Libyan civil war, started in 2014. Between April 2019 and June 2020 very intense fighting took place when General Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) tried in vain to capture the capital Tripoli and to oust the United Nations-recognized government. Both sides were backed by foreign actors. Experts from the United Nations noted in 2020 that the Tripoli based government supported by Turkey as well the LNA assisted by Russian private military personel of the so-called Wagner Group involved other third country nationals in their military operations.