After Qaddafi’s death and the subsequent declaration of independence in October 2011, Libya’s transitional authorities faced enormous challenges in the control and management of the various armed groups formed to fight the regime.

Competing interest groups within three institutions—the army, the Supreme Security Committee (SSC), and the Libya Shield Forces (LSF)—engaged in fierce power struggles over the future of the security sector. By October 2014, these power struggles gave rise to two rival governments, two military leaderships, and two very distinct claims to legitimacy.