The phenomenon of foreign fighters in Libya

In 2011, a revolution erupted in Libya to overthrow the Qaddafi regime (Winer, 2019). Since then, Libya has experienced a massive influx of foreign fighters. According to the UN, there are 20,000 foreign fighters in Libya, which constitute a real threat not only to the Libyan sovereignty but also to the safety of civilians (UN News, 2020). Besides that, the massive existence of foreign fights impedes the institutional functionality of the Libyan state, as it keeps the armed conflict on fire.

Terrorist organizations are well known for their abilities to attract foreign fighters, e.g., ISIS in Libya managed to attract fighters from Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, and other regional countries. Reports indicated that ISIS had about 5,000 fighters by 2016, which gave it an advantage to wage deadly attacks against civilians in Libya (Al Arabia, 2016).

The massive influx of foreign fighters to Libya came as a result of ISIS’s attempt to make Libya its new base in the Middle East after being defeated in Syria and Iraq by the Global Coalition against Daesh (Trew, 2017). However, the main conflictual parties in Libya (the Tripoli-based government of the National Accord and the Tobruk-based government) took responsibilities to fight the Libyan branch of ISIS. The main conflictual sides sought to take credit through defeating ISIS in Libya as a method to increase their legitimacy on the ground. For instance, the UN-backed government defeated ISIS and regained control over the coastal city of Sirte in 2016 (Eljarh, 2016). Also, the forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA) fought against ISIS in the southern parts of Libya (The Arab weekly, 2019). By 2020, ISIS lost most of the lands it controlled, and its fighters became scattered all over the southern parts of the country, which is not inhabited (Chughtai & Allahoum, 2020).

Both the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the LNA attempted to introduce themselves to the west as the most reliable ally in Libya. For instance, the LNA appealed to France by focusing on fighting the terrorist organizations in the eastern parties of Libya (Mezran, 2020). The GNA sought to intensify its relations with Italy by adopting anti-migration agenda (Megerisi & Varvelli, 2020). The UN’s failure to enforce the arms embargo on Libya was the main reason that pushed the Libyan parties towards Europe (Kaim & Schulz, 2020).