![Libya's internationally recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni speaks during an interview with Reuters in Bayda February 15, 2015. Thinni called for the West to launch air strikes to defeat Islamist militants who control Tripoli and have driven his government out of the capital. Speaking hours before Egypt bombed Islamic State targets in Libya in retaliation after militants said they had beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians, Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni made a plea for Western military intervention in](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/RTR4PRPI.jpg/RTR4PRPI.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=4x1U6lsM)
Mustafa Fetouri is an independent Libyan academic and an award-winning journalist. He can be reached at mustafafetouri@hotmail.com. On Twitter: @MFetouri
![Libya's internationally recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni speaks during an interview with Reuters in Bayda February 15, 2015. Thinni called for the West to launch air strikes to defeat Islamist militants who control Tripoli and have driven his government out of the capital. Speaking hours before Egypt bombed Islamic State targets in Libya in retaliation after militants said they had beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians, Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni made a plea for Western military intervention in](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/RTR4PRPI.jpg/RTR4PRPI.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=4x1U6lsM)
![Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and Head of United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Bernardino Leon addresses a news conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, January 14, 2015. The United Nations will launch talks on Wednesday in Geneva between warring Libyan factions even though one side has delayed its decision on attending negotiations aimed at averting a broader civil war. Two rival governments and their forces are vying for control in Libya, three years after th](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/01/RTR4LEP0.jpg/RTR4LEP0.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=Zi0MV0qe)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![Firefighters work to put out the fire of a storage oil tank at the port of Es Sider in Ras Lanuf December 29, 2014. Oil tanks at Es Sider have been on fire for days after a rocket hit one of them, destroying more than two days of Libyan production, officials said on Sunday. Libya has appealed to Italy, Germany and the United States to send firefighters. REUTERS/Stringer (LIBYA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT ENERGY) - RTR4JKBK](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/01/RTR4JKBK.jpg/RTR4JKBK.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=-3HlEYB0)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![Supporters of Operation Dawn, a group of forces mainly from Misrata, demonstrate against and call for the removal of the new Libyan parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk, the House of Representatives, at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli September 19, 2014. REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR46ZP8](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/12/RTR46ZP8.jpg/RTR46ZP8.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=AVMp-Scf)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![Libyans celebrate after the Supreme Court invalidated the country's parliament, at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli November 6, 2014. Libya's Supreme Court on Thursday declared the internationally recognised parliament as unconstitutional, in a ruling likely to fuel further chaos in the north African oil producing nation. The decision came a day after gunmen stormed Libya's biggest oilfield, shutting down production at the facility in the country's remote south in a new blow to the already beleaguered energy se](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/11/RTR4D3KC.jpg/RTR4D3KC.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=BYWHty-p)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![Damage to a house is seen following clashes between rival militias in the Wershavana district of Tripoli, August 10, 2014. Heavy shelling resumed in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Sunday after three days of relative calm following more than a month of street fighting between rival armed factions battling for control of the city's airport. REUTERS/Hani Amara (LIBYA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST) - RTR41WJK](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/08/RTR41WJK.jpg/RTR41WJK.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=StVS4Bnm)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![Tunisian diplomat Al-Aroussi Kontassi (C) hugs a family member upon his arrival at a military airport at Aouina in Tunis early June 30, 2014. The Tunisian diplomat and an embassy worker kidnapped earlier this year by unknown gunmen in Libya arrived at dawn on Monday at a Tunis airport after being freed on Sunday. REUTERS/Anis Mili (TUNISIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3WCZP](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/07/RTR3WCZP.jpg/RTR3WCZP.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=wIxBp4jF)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![Tuareg voters leave a school that serves as a polling station in Ghat, south western Libya, June 25, 2014. Libyans vote for a new parliament on Wednesday, an election officials hope will ease the chaos that has gripped the OPEC oil producer since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi three years ago. REUTERS/Ali Alhmdani Aghali (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3VO0V](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3VO0V.jpg/RTR3VO0V.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=e9Renu85)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![A man walks past destroyed warehouses following Friday's clashes between Libyan irregular forces and Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi May 17, 2014. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori (LIBYA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3PL90](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3PL90.jpg/RTR3PL90.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=kjaATK4F)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![Ex-general Khalifa Haftar speaks during a news conference after surviving an assassination attempt, in Al Marj, east of Benghazi June 4, 2014. Gunmen in Libya shot dead a Swiss national working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), fired a grenade at the prime minister's office and tried to kill Haftar, in a series of attacks on Wednesday. A suicide bomber blew up a sports utility vehicle packed with explosives at retired general Haftar's base in Benghazi, according to his spokesman, Moha](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/06/RTR3S9BB.jpg/RTR3S9BB.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=CAr-PmU5)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY DOMINIQUE SOGUEL
The charred remains of a vegetable market is seen in the town of Bani Walid on October 31, 2012, one of the final bastions of supporters of late Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi. The town had been besieged and then attackedlast week as authorities sought to arrest those who captured and tortured Omran Shaaban, a 22-year-old former rebel credited with Kadhafi's capture. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD TURKIA (Photo credit should read MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/06/155086572.jpg/155086572.jpg?h=c2c5b897&itok=MVoKJUCl)
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Mustafa Fetouri
![A woman casts her ballot during a vote to elect a constitution-drafting panel in Benghazi February 20, 2014. Libyans head to the polls on Thursday to elect a body to draft a new constitution, marking a step in the country's transition after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTX195QQ](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/RTX195QQ.jpg/RTX195QQ.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=MSuH5oig)
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Mustafa Fetouri