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Report / In Depth

Airstrikes, Proxy Warfare, and Civilian Casualties in Libya

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Rosen Ivanov Iliev / Shutterstock.com

Abstract

New America and Airwars have found 4,349 reported airstrikes in Libya from September 2012 to February 5, 2020. This report utilizes on-the-ground reports collected from a wide variety of sources. This study seeks to fill the gaps in English-language reporting on civilian casualties in Libya, thus many of the sources are in Arabic. Strikes in this report include allegations of civilian casualties by the following parties: Libya’s GNA, which is recognized by the UN; the LNA, a rival military force led by Haftar; Egypt; the United Arab Emirates; France; Turkey; Chad; Italy; and the United States. Russia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Qatar have either financially backed and/or provided troops to either warring side—GNA and LNA.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Airwars director Chris Woods and deputy director Dmytro Chupryna, and Libya project researchers Oliver Imhof and Osama Mansour for building the Airwars Libya database, and providing editorial guidance on this report, and a thorough review, through the completion of our collaboration through March 31, 2020; Frederic Wehrey for peer reviewing the paper and providing insight; Candace Rondeaux and David Sterman for peer reviewing the paper; International Security Program (ISP) colleagues Brenden McMullen and Kelly Morris for helping to compile appendices, providing research memos, and updating the New America Libya database; Alexandra Stark for insightful feedback; Naomi Morduch Toubman for creating the data visualization and Tara Moulson and Joe Wilkes for formatting it; Emily Schneider for a thorough copyedit; 2018 report authors Peter Bergen and Alyssa Sims for the analysis that guided the way for this updated release; and the Open Society Foundation for funding the original study. Any errors are the author’s responsibility.

More About the Authors

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Melissa Salyk-Virk

Fellow, Future Security

Programs/Projects/Initiatives

Airstrikes, Proxy Warfare, and Civilian Casualties in Libya

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