Derna is a port city in eastern Libya. It has a population of 100,000–150,000. It was the seat of one of the wealthiest provinces in the Barbary States, and remains the capital of the Derna District, with a much smaller area. Derna has a unique environment among Libyan cities, as it lies between green mountains, the Mediterranean Sea, and the desert. The city is also home to people of mixed origins.
Sirte, also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups, and loyalty to Muammar Gaddafi. Also due to its development, it was the capital of Libya as Tripoli's successor after the Fall of Tripoli from 1 September 2011 to 20 October 2011. The settlement was established in the early 20th century by the Italians, at the site of a 19th-century fortress built by the Ottomans. It grew into a city after World War II.
Bin Jawad, also known as Bin Jawwād, Bin Quwad is a town with estimated 8,488 inhabitants in the Sirte District in Libya. It is approximately halfway between Benghazi and Misrata. The nearest settlements are Nofaliya, which about 20 km to the west, and the port of Sidra, which is about 30 km to the southeast of Bin Jawad.
Nofaliya or Nawfaliya is a town in the desert in the Sirte District of Libya. It is west of Libya's major oil ports.
The Second Gulf of Sidra offensive was a military operation in the Libyan Civil War conducted by rebel anti-Gaddafi forces in August and September 2011 to take control of towns along the Gulf of Sidra in an effort to surround Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, which was held by pro-Gaddafi forces. It ended on 20 October, when Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim Gaddafi were killed along with former defense minister, Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr. The Gaddafi loyalists in the area were finally defeated when NTC fighters captured Sirte.
The Second Libyan Civil War is an ongoing multi-sided civil war from 2014 in the North African country of Libya fought between different armed groups, mainly the House of Representatives and the Government of National Accord.
In response to rapid territorial gains made by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the first half of 2014, and its universally condemned executions, reported human rights abuses and the fear of further spillovers of the Syrian Civil War, many states began to intervene against it in both the Syrian Civil War and the Iraqi Civil War. Later, there were also minor interventions by some states against ISIL-affiliated groups in Nigeria and Libya.
The Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries is a military coalition in Benghazi composed of Islamist and jihadist militias, including Ansar al-Sharia, Libya Shield 1, and several other groups.
In October 2014, the self-declared Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of numerous government buildings, security vehicles and local landmarks in the Eastern Libyan coastal city of Derna. Although some media outlets reported the control as being absolute, rival groups like the al-Qaeda-affiliated Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade continued to control parts of the city. Clashes erupted between ISIL and an alliance of Islamist groups in June 2015, with ISIL retreating from Derna to outlying suburbs the following month. However, clashes continued between the Islamist alliance and the Tobruk-based government forces.
The core of the territory of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was, from 2014 until 2019, in Iraq and Syria, where the proto-state controlled significant swathes of urban, rural, and desert territory. The Islamic State also controls territory in Afghanistan as well as Nigeria, possibly holds areas in Somalia, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and used to control land in Libya, the Philippines, Egypt, and Yemen. The group also has insurgent cells in India, Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, the Caucasus, and Saudi Arabia that do not control territory. By late March 2019, ISIL territory in Syria was reduced to only the besieged 4,000 km2 (1,550 sq mi) Syrian Desert pocket. The enclave was surrounded by Syrian government forces and its allies. The Syrian military conducted combing operations and airstrikes against the pocket, but with limited success.
The Libyan Crisis refers to the current humanitarian crisis and political-military instability that occurs in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to a civil war, foreign military intervention, and the ousting and death of Muammar Gaddafi. The civil war's aftermath and proliferation of armed groups led to violence and instability across the country, which erupted into renewed civil war in 2014. The crisis in Libya has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties since the onset of violence in early 2011. During both civil wars, the output of Libya's economically crucial oil industry collapsed to a small fraction of its usual level, with most facilities blockaded or damaged by rival groups, despite having the largest oil reserves of any African country. U.S. President Barack Obama stated on 11 April 2016 that not preparing for a post-Gaddafi Libya was probably the "worst mistake" of his presidency. On October 23, 2020, parties signed a permanent ceasefire.
The February 2015 Egyptian airstrikes in Libya against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions in Libya took place on February 16, 2015, and were triggered by a video released by ISIL in Libya a day earlier, depicting the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt. Within hours, the Egyptian Air Force responded with airstrikes against ISIL training camps and weapons stockpiles in retaliation for the killings. Warplanes acting under orders from the Libyan government also struck targets in Derna, reportedly in coordination with Egypt.
The Battle of Sirte refers to the battle in the spring of 2015, in the region of Sirte, Libya, between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Libya Shield Force. ISIL forces had been present in the city since February 2015, before the Fall of Nofaliya. After Nofaliya fell to ISIL forces, the Tripoli-based government had decided to send reinforcements to recapture Sirte.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a militant Islamist group active in Libya under three branches: Fezzan Province in the desert south, Cyrenaica Province in the east, and Tripolitania Province in the west. The branches were formed on 13 November 2014, following pledges of allegiance to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by militants in Libya.
This is a detailed timeline of the Second Libyan Civil War which lasted from 2014 to 2020.
The Battle of Sirte (2016) started in the spring of 2016, in the Sirte District in Libya, between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the loyalist forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) backed by the United States. ISIL forces had captured Sirte one year earlier, during the previous battle. The conflict for Sirte was described as ISIL's "last stand" in Libya.
Fall of Bin Jawad (2016) refers to ISIL takeover of Libyan city of Bin Jawad on 4 January 2016 during its oil crescent region. On Monday morning, the terrorist group imposed full control over the city of Bin Jawad in the Sirte District, after a series of intense firefights with rebel forces that are loyal to the Libyan provisional government in Tripoli.
Since November 2015, the United States and allies have carried out a large series of both airstrikes and drone strikes to assist Libya in its revived conflict in support of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord against the ISIL presence in the region.
Katiba al-Bittar al-Libi is an armed Islamist group operating in Iraq, Syria and Libya. The group is composed largely of Libyan fighters who entered Syria in the wake of the Arab Spring and early post-civil uprising stage of the Syrian Civil War. Though the group is composed largely of Libyans, the group also has large amounts of Tunisians and Francophone Maghrebis from Europe, reportedly the perpetrators of the November 2015 Paris attacks and Manchester Arena bombing, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was suspected to be a leader of the group, were members of the group or affiliated with it, the group also pioneered the Inghimasi tactic used in the attack, and its fighters have largely employed the tactic on the battlefield. The group maintained close ties to Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia through networks in Libya and has established multiple training camps across Libya and has recruited Tunisians to these camps, which were located around Sirte and Tripoli. During beginning of the infighting between ISIL and its former allies such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham fighters from Katiba al-Bittar took part in open fighting against ISIL's opponents in Markada and Atarib, in the process losing several fighters.
New General National Congress 
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Caliph of ISIL)