2011 military intervention in Libya

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

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)
Date 19 March 2011 – 31 October 2011[1] (7 months, 1 week and 5 days) Location Libya Result NATO Coalition/Anti-Gaddafi victory Overthrow of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Killing of Muammar Gaddafi by Anti-Gaddafi forces Tensions between Libyan factions following the fall of Gaddafi lead to renewed civil war in 2014 Start and continuation of the Libyan Crisis
Belligerents
NATO[a]  Belgium  Bulgaria  Canada  Denmark  France  Greece  Italy  Netherlands  Norway  Romania  Spain  Turkey  United Kingdom  United States  Jordan  Qatar  Sweden  United Arab Emirates Anti-Gaddafi forces	Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Armed Forces Pro-Gaddafi militias Mercenaries (alleged)[2][3][4]
Commanders and leaders
Opération Harmattan: Nicolas Sarkozy Alain Juppé Édouard Guillaud Operation Ellamy: David Cameron Liam Fox David Richards Operation Mobile: Stephen Harper Peter MacKay André Deschamps Operation Odyssey Dawn: Barack Obama Hillary Clinton Robert Gates Carter Ham Silvio Berlusconi Ignazio La Russa Claudio Graziano Operation Unified Protector: Anders Fogh Rasmussen James G. Stavridis Charles Bouchard Ralph Jodice Rinaldo Veri	Muammar Gaddafi †[5] Saif al-Islam Gaddafi  (POW)[6] Khamis Gaddafi † Al-Saadi Gaddafi Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr †[5] 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]	5,900 military targets including[7] 600 tanks or armored vehicles 400 artillery or rocket launchers 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]

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

1. Enforcing UNSC Resolution 1973