SUMMARY

Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya (PFLL) was an armed group formed in Libya in 2016. While little is known about the clandestine group, it was described as “Gaddafi-loyalist”; this implied that the group was connected to remaining elements of the Libyan regime toppled in 2011, and that it was opposed to the post-2011 factions that controlled the Government of Libya. In its formative statement, the PFLL declared that it would rid Libya of the “terrorist organizations” and “criminal militias” that controlled the country, and thus rebuild the Libyan state.

PFLL was created on 25 December 2016 by Libyans, at least nominally, loyal to the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown in 2011. According to the group itself, it was created as a reaction to the institutional collapse and sociopolitical fragmentation that had affected Libya following the armed conflict between the NTC and Gaddafi in 2011. The group also claimed that it had been created as a “framework” for all factions that sought to rebuild Libya’s national sovereignty by means of “legitimate” institutions. It was suggested that the group had connections to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late dictator. However, it remained unclear if Saif al-Islam, who at the time of the PFLL’s creation was still imprisoned in the town Zintan, had any direct connections to the group. While some claimed that he might have been the creator of the PFLL, other sources asserted that the group was only loosely connected to the Gaddafi family. For example, it was suggested that members of tribal groups that had been supporters of Saif al-Islam’s father had created the PFLL without his direct involvement. Following his release in the summer of 2017, there was no immediate indication that Saif al-Islam had joined any armed group. Little was known about the PFLL’s command structure, but Al-Mabruk Ehneish appears to have been one of the group’s commanders.

It was not known whether the PFLL had a specific area of operation; its formative statement was however issued in the Western Mountains region, implying at least some connection to that area. In 2017, the group maintained a presence in the Wershafana area southwest of Tripoli, before Zintani forces loyal to the Government of Libya expelled it. The group was allegedly also active in the areas around Libya’s “Great Man Made River” canal complex in the southern parts of the country. The exact composition and strength of the PFLL’s fighting forces were not known. Sources within the Zintan Military Council, loyal to the Government of Libya, claimed that the PFLL had gathered 1700 fighters in Wershafana in November 2017; this figure should however be viewed with caution, as it remained unverified. Another estimation, made by the government-affiliated Special Deterrence Force militia, was that the PFLL had only about 120 fighters in late 2017.

As of 2017, it was not known whether the PFLL had any connections to other government or non-state actors. However, in 2017, the group most likely employed mercenaries from Sudan’s Darfur region, including fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).