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Concept
Armed Forces of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Summary
The Armed Forces of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (القوات المسلحة للجماهيرية العربية الليبية) consisted of the Libyan Army, Libyan Air Force and the Libyan Navy and other services including the People's Militia. In November 2010, before the First Civil War of 2011, the total number of Libyan personnel was estimated at 760,000 though that war wore the military's numbers away. There was no separate defence ministry; all defence activities were centralised under Muammar Gaddafi. There was a High Command of the Armed Forces (al-Qiyada al-ulya lil-quwwat al-musallaha). Arms production was limited and manufacturers were state-owned. Colonel Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr was the last minister of defence of the Gaddafi-era military.
The roots of the 1951–2011 Libyan armed forces can be traced to the Libyan Arab Force (popularly known as the Sanusi Army) of World War II. Shortly after Italy entered the war, a number of Libyan leaders living in exile in Egypt called on their compatriots to organise themselves into military units and join the British in the war against the Axis powers. Five battalions, which were initially designed for guerrilla warfare in the Jabal al Akhdar region of Cyrenaica, were established under British command. Because the high mobility of the desert campaigns required a considerable degree of technical and mechanical expertise, the Libyan forces were used primarily as auxiliaries, guarding military installations and prisoners. One battalion, however, participated in the fighting at Tobruk.
After Britain succeeded in occupying the Libyan territories, the need for the British-trained and equipped Sanusi troops appeared to be over. The Sanusi Army was reluctant to disband, however, and the majority of its members arranged to be transferred to the local police force in Cyrenaica under the British military administration. When Libya gained its independence in 1951, veterans of the original Sanusi Army formed the nucleus of the Royal Libyan Army.
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