While the Tripoli-based government has no known air power of its own, allied Turkish military forces have previously deployed drones in western Libya. The GNU said "our national air force" had targeted what it called criminal gangs involved in trafficking fuel, drugs and people in western coastal areas. Libya has had little stability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi and it split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions although there has been no major warfare since a 2020 ceasefire. Most western armed factions continued to back the GNU, as did Turkey which had helped the Tripoli government fight off an eastern assault in early 2020. However, some factions in the west oppose the GNU and last summer there were clashes in Tripoli between the two sides as the prime minister designated by the parliament in eastern Libya attempted to enter the capital.
