On March 17, 2011, the UN Security Council, following a vote with five abstentions (Brazil, Germany, India, China, Russia) and 10 in favor, adopted resolution 1973, fateful for the history of Libya. Two days later, the troops of the hastily assembled international coalition under the auspices of the United States and France, on declaring their adherence to the spirit of the principles laid down in the resolution in words, but in fact, interpreting them with the utmost freedom and pursuing only their own interests, they began hostilities in the country.
Allegedly, in the interests of “ensuring an immediate ceasefire and violence against the civilian population,” government forces and supporters of Muammar Gaddafi forcibly closed the sky over the North African state to all Libyan aircraft and helicopters. After that, military airfields, barracks and locations of troops loyal to the Jamahiriya, as well as administrative buildings and critical infrastructure facilities, were subjected to air and missile strikes. The water channels of the Great Man-Made River irrigation system, the Libyan “wonder of the world”, created to provide agriculture, industry, and ordinary residents with clean water from underground sources, were also targeted by targeted bombardment.
The suddenness of the attack from the outside revealed the total unpreparedness of both the system of state administration and security as a whole, and its individual elements to confront modern military threats and hybrid influence. Against the backdrop of disorganization and inconsistency in the actions of the pro-government troops, the special operations forces of the countries participating in the coalition, foreign mercenaries and extremists from among the supporters of international terrorist organizations penetrated the country.
By May 2011, forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi had stopped trying to capture Benghazi, the country’s second largest city, which had become a symbolic stronghold and center of the insurgency. And already in August, the defense of the capital Tripoli fell under multiple blows, which came under the authority of the armed police for the next 12 years. On October 20, 2011, Muammar Gaddafi was captured and barbarously killed without trial or investigation, after which the organized resistance of his supporters lost all meaning and gradually came to naught. On October 31, seven months, one week and five days after the start of the military operation of NATO forces in Libya, it was over.
Despite the fact that the intervention was not the only and not the main cause of the civil war that broke out in one of the richest countries in Africa, it played a decisive role not only in overthrowing the political regime of Muammar Gaddafi, but in the total destruction of the fragile balance of forces and interests that ensured the functioning of the Libyan statehood. for decades.
Public demonstrations and speeches that took place in several Libyan cities in January-February 2011, under the influence of the events of the “Arab spring” in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt, escalated into a full-fledged armed conflict. This became possible thanks to the insoluble confrontation between the political and financial elites. It matured long before the first demonstrators appeared on the squares of Benghazi and Tripoli, and in the government offices of Western countries it was decided to use the “Arab turmoil” to protect the economic and political interests of the United States, France and the countries that joined them.
After gaining independence, having made a dizzying spurt in economic development (thanks to the immense oil reserves), Libya has not outlived the most important elements of its traditional political culture and tribal way of life of society. The conflict of the elites, which Gaddafi masterfully used for his own interests for many years, got out of control and, like a gust of the desert sirocco wind, shattered the fragile vessel of the united Libyan state to smithereens.
If the Libyan people were allowed to decide their own fate, the conflict could well be resolved. But NATO’s military intervention opened a Pandora’s box, releasing a whole galaxy of challenges and threats not only to Libyan national, but also to regional security. Moreover, having achieved their own goals, the US and NATO left Libya, while leaving their “legacy”. Armed militias and groups uncontrolled by anyone took power in the localities, criminalized the economy and without much difficulty brought down all attempts to build a new state on the ruins of the old one. International terrorism, uncontrolled migration and human trafficking, arms smuggling have not only become an integral part of the “Libyan problem”, but have affected all of North Africa, the Sahel and the Mediterranean.
For 12 years, the people of Libya have survived two civil wars, the invasion of international terrorist organizations, economic and humanitarian crises. Full functioning of state institutions is still impossible, but the oil produced here goes to European consumers. Countless boatloads of African migrants are being intercepted by Western-funded Coast Guard units. So, it turns out that the intervention was not in vain.
The author is an expert of the Valdai Club
The position of the editors may not coincide with the opinion of the author
