This groundbreaking new volume provides the first comprehensive review of the Libyan conflict of 2011. The book expands on and complements the report of the Libya Commission of Inquiry to the United Nations Human Rights Council, and provides the reader with the information essential to understanding the Libyan conflict, its causes and ramifications, and the difficulties the country faces as it rebuilds in the wake of 40 years of repression and the effects of a brutal civil war. The book provides a historical overview of the country and the ruinous policies of the Qadhafi regime, a chronological review of the evolution of the conflict, a description of the belligerents and their organizational makeup, an account of the NATO intervention and its legality, a basic legal characterization of conduct of the belligerents and the various accountability mechanisms pursued thus far, and an appraisal of the post-conflict period, as well as a detailed factual assessment and legal characterization of ten different theaters of conflict, including Benghazi, Tripoli, Misrata, Sirte and the Nafusa Mountains.

A vivid and astonishing reckoning with the Gaddafi regime, from one of our most acclaimed and gifted international journalists The fall of Muammar Gaddafi, who was for forty-two years the great autocrat-madman on the world stage, is among the past decade’s most dramatic turning points. In Lindsey Hilsum, a renowned British correspondent for over a quarter century, the end of the Gaddafi regime has found its definitive chronicler. Following six individuals living through this time of unprecedented danger and opportunity, Hilsum tells the full story of the Libyan revolution—from the uprising of the early months through the toppling of Gaddafi’s regime and his savage death in the desert. For the paperback edition, Hilsum brings her analysis up to the present day—with new material on the killing of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, the July elections, and the Benghazi anti-militia demonstrations—and explores what the future of Libya will bring.

A riveting, beautifully crafted account of Libya after Qadhafi. The death of Colonel Muammar Qadhafi freed Libya from forty-two years of despotic rule, raising hopes for a new era. But in the aftermath, the country descended into bitter rivalries and civil war, paving the way for the Islamic State and a catastrophic migrant crisis. In a fast-paced narrative that blends frontline reporting, analysis, and history, Frederic Wehrey tells the story of what went wrong. An Arabic-speaking Middle East scholar, Wehrey interviewed the key actors in Libya and paints vivid portraits of lives upended by a country in turmoil: the once-hopeful activists murdered or exiled, revolutionaries transformed into militia bosses or jihadist recruits, an aging general who promises salvation from the chaos in exchange for a return to the old authoritarianism. He traveled where few Westerners have gone, from the shattered city of Benghazi, birthplace of the revolution, to the lawless Sahara, to the coastal stronghold of the Islamic State in Qadhafi’s hometown of Sirt. He chronicles the American and international missteps after the dictator’s death that hastened the country’s unraveling. Written with bravura, based on daring reportage, and informed by deep knowledge, TheBurning Shores is the definitive account of Libya’s fall.

The world watched as the bud of the Arab Spring was buried under the cold darkness of the Libyan Winter.

Syria's dictator Bashar al-Assad and his junta regime have slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Syrians in the name of fighting terrorism. Former political prisoner, and current refugee, Yassin al-Haj Saleh exposes the lies that enable Assad to continue on his reign of terror as well as the complicity of both Russia and the US in atrocities endured by Syrians.

In 2011, NATO and a number of Arab and other countries backed a rebel overthrow of longstanding Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. When Qaddafi was killed in October, the intervening powers abruptly wrapped up military operations. A small United Nations mission was given responsibility for coordinating post-conflict stabilization support. The essential tasks of establishing security, building political and administrative institutions, and restarting the economy were left almost entirely up to Libya's new leaders. The results of this very limited international approach have been lackluster at best. Libya has fallen behind on a number of critical post-conflict fronts, jihadist groups have made inroads, and there is still a possibility that this newly freed nation could once again collapse into civil war. Although Libya's fate is ultimately in the hands of Libyans themselves, international actors could have done more to help and could still take steps to avert further deterioration of Libya itself as well as the broader region. This report is based on research and interviews with officials in Washington, London, Paris, Brussels, and Tripoli and draws on existing RAND work on post-conflict reconstruction. It explains the challenges that Libya faced after the war, assesses the steps taken to overcome them, draws implications for future post-conflict efforts, and sketches a way forward in Libya itself.

Syria's President Bashar al-Asad was an outspoken opponent of the US and Israel. In March 2001 when Arab Spring came to Syria, Bashar reasoned that his support among Syrians was deep and wide because, as he told the Wall Street Journal a few weeks earlier, he was "closely linked to the beliefs of the people." He was dead wrong.In Syria - A Decade of Lost Chances, author Carsten Wieland lays bare the web of influence, alliance, power, and ethnic presence that the new president promised to turn into a functioning democracy. He failed, clearly. And now the question is asked, Was he sincere in the first instance? Or, was he - from the beginning - a happy face for a regime that never had any intention of conceding power?