ORDER OF BATTLE // October 15, 2014
Battle of Benina Airport
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 21,000 estimated
Libyan National Army
5,000
Medium-confidence figure
Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries
16,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Benina Airport, fought from August to October 2014, was part of the broader contest for Benghazi during the Second Libyan Civil War. The Islamic Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, backed by Ansar al-Sharia and other Islamist factions, attempted to seize the airport from the Libyan National Army under General Khalifa Haftar. Control of an airport represented a significant logistical and symbolic stake in the struggle for Benghazi, a city that became the central theater of the post-2014 conflict between Haftar's forces and Islamist-aligned militias. The LNA suffered recorded casualties of approximately 700, indicating the sustained intensity of the fighting despite fielding a substantially smaller force than the opposing coalition of roughly 16,000. The battle reflects the broader pattern of the civil war in which Haftar's Operation Dignity campaign faced determined resistance from a numerically superior but fragmented Islamist front across Benghazi's urban and infrastructure nodes.
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