• Libyans put aside woes to celebrate uneasy anniversary

    Mahmud Turkia / AFP - Getty Images

    Thousands of Libyans celebrate the second anniversary of the Libyan uprising at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli on Feb. 17, 2013.

    Reuters reports — Thousands took to the streets on Sunday to celebrate two years since the start of Libya's revolution and a national political leader promised to end the sense of neglect experienced by Benghazi, the country's second city.

    Mohammad Hannon / AP

    Libyans release lanterns into the air at Nasr Square during the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in Benghazi on Feb 17.

    One thousand kilometers east of the capital Tripoli, Benghazi was the cradle of the revolt that ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi, but many citizens feel that they are yet to see the fruits of their military struggle.

    "I'm not here to celebrate; a revolution should be celebrated once its goals are fulfilled. In Benghazi we keep bringing up demands and nothing happens," Mohammed al-Shokri, 26, said. Read the full story.

    Slideshow: Conflict in Libya

    Goran Tomasevic / REUTERS

    An uprising in Libya ousts dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

    Launch slideshow

    This story was originally published on Sun Feb 17, 2013 7:51 PM EST

  • Fuel dumped from expired missiles in Libya

    Ismail Zitouny / Reuters

    A team of Libyan experts and military engineers dump fuel from expired SA-2 missiles under the supervision of the United Nations in Tripoli, Nov. 11. Experts were assigned to dump the toxic chemicals found in the air defense missiles left over from the former Gadhafi regime.

    Slideshow: Moammar Gadhafi through the years

    Patrick Kovarik / AFP - Getty Images

    A look at the life and times of Libya's mercurial and flamboyant leader

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  • Esam Omran Al-fetori / Reuters

    Issa Mahmoud, 14, practises with a punching bag during a boxing training session in Libya on June 27, 2012. Boxing, which was banned in 1979 by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has made a comeback with five boxing clubs to train at in Tripoli.

    Boxing returns to Libya

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  • Gunfights, clashes erupt in Libyan capital

    By Rich Shulman

    What's with all the shouting?

    AP reports:

    Gunfights broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday between supporters of deposed leader Moammar Gadhafi and forces of the National Transitional Council, raising fears of an insurgency against the country's new rulers.

    Hundreds of NTC fighters in trucks shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) careered toward the Abu Salim neighborhood, a center of support for Gadhafi, and the two sides exchanged automatic and heavy machine gun fire.

    Related:

    Report: Cost of 'Arab Spring' more than $55 billion

    Slideshow: Conflict in Libya

    Ismail Zitouni / Reuters

    Anti-Gadhafi forces shout during a gun battle with Gadhafi supporters in the Abu Salim neighbourhood in Tripoli October 14, 2011. A gun battle broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday between 20 to 50 armed supporters of deposed leader
    Moammar Gadhafi and forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC), a Reuters witness and residents said.


    Ismail Zitouni / Reuters

    Anti-Gaddafi forces shout during a gun battle with pro-Gadhafi supporters in the Abu Salim neighborhood in Tripoli October 14.

    Gun battles break out in Tripoli between Moammar Gadhafi supporters and forces loyal to Libya's new National Transitional Council. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.

  • A look inside the Djeida prison in Tripoli

    By Natalia Jimenez, NBC News

    A peek into the Djeida prison in Tripoli, Libya that currently houses about 1400 inmates, including Gadhafi loyalist fighters, criminals, former regime ministers and foreign immigrants.

    Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

    Female inmates at the Tripoli's infamous Djeida prison walk about the courtyard on Oct. 11. Some 1400 inmates are detained in this facility, among them former regime ministers, loyalist fighters, ordinary criminals and foreign immigrants.

    Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

    An inmate of the infamous Djeida prison gestures towards a warden in Tripoli on October 11, 2011.

    Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

    Female inmates of the infamous Djeida prison stand in their cell in Tripoli on Oct. 11.

    Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

    Two couples of sub-Saharan African immigrants confined in the Djeida prison in Tripoli on Oct. 11. Both women are pregnant.

    Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

    A female inmate of the infamous Djeida prison washes her dishes in Tripoli on October 11, 2011.

    Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

    A female inmate leans against a wall at the infamous Djeida prison in Tripoli on Oct. 11.

    See more pictures of Libya in our slideshow and on PhotoBlog.

  • Students at the University of Tripoli adjust to a new reality

    Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

    Students at the University of Tripoli, formerly Al-Fateh University, gather at a volunteer's meeting on October 9. The academic year started a little late this year, after the ouster of former leader Moammar Gadhafi, but the University of Tripoli is full of enthusiastic students with new found freedoms now only missing their comrades still on the front.

    Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images

    Students at the University of Tripoli chat in the conference hall on October 9.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    As a new academic year begins, staff and students at the University of Tripoli are adjusting to a new reality. An article in The Wall Street Journal on October 6 examined how the transition of power is affecting life at the university, where 13 professors and lecturers were among those whose names were posted on a blacklist of alleged collaborators with Moammar Gadhafi's fallen regime.

  • Libyan Jew returns home after 44-year exile

    Libyan Jewish exile David Gerbi visited the abandoned Dar Bishi synagogue in Tripoli Saturday, and said that he is the first Jew to return to Libya since the revolt that ousted Moammar Gadhafi.

    The 12-year-old Gerbi and his family fled Tripoli in 1967 when an Arab-Israeli war stoked anger against the Jewish state and led to attacks on Jews in his neighborhood.

    Suhaib Salem / Reuters

    Libyan Jewish exile David Gerbi prays inside Dar Bishi synagogue in Tripoli on October 1. Gerbi and his family fled Tripoli in 1967 when an Arab-Israeli war stoked anger against the Jewish state and led to attacks on Jews in his neighborhood.

    Joseph Eid / AFP - Getty Images

    A picture shows the Ten Commandments written in Hebrew on stone tablets on top of an abandoned synagogue in the Libyan capital Tripoli on September 28. The Jewish community in Libya dates back to the third century BC and at its peak numbered around 38,000 people.

    Suhaib Salem / Reuters

    Libyan Jewish exile David Gerbi is helped by an anti-Gadhafi fighter upon exit from the Dar Bishi synagogue in Tripoli on October 1.

    Reuters reports:

    In the walled old city of Tripoli, Libya's independence flag pokes through crumbling buildings and a gang of children wielding toy pistols tear through dusty alleyways.

    In these run-down streets stands the empty, faded peach-colored Dar Bishi synagogue.

    The interior can only be seen by climbing up the rubble of a collapsed house and the ark, which would normally shelter the sacred Torah scroll, is instead stuffed with a mattress.

    The Hebrew inscription above it "Hear, O Israel" is barely perceptible from wear, and empty paint cans are strewn across the floor. The site of the Mikve baths, used once for ritual cleansing, is now a trash dump where stray cats scour for food next to a discarded washing machine as veiled women look on. Continue reading.

    Read the latest from Libya in our story, Red Cross gets medicine into besieged Sirte, and see more images from the conflict in our slideshow.

  • Bela Szandelszky / AP

    A massive column of smoke fills the sky near Tripoli, reported to be originating from a military warehouse belonging to Gadhafi on Saturday, Sept. 24. A series of explosions rocked the military warehouse and a huge plume of smoke rose over the harbor on Saturday afternoon, although the cause of the blasts is not confirmed.

    Massive smoke plume fills the skies above Tripoli

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    This photo comes to us as Libyans continue to fight for control of Sirte, one of Gadhafi's last remaining strongholds, as well as his hometown.

    See a roundup of the uprising that has deposed the Libyan leader in our slideshow.

  • Turkish Airlines announces resumption of flights to Tripoli's Mitiga Airport

    By Rich Shulman

    The Malta Independent Online reports that the airport is open, even though it has not been officially announced.

    Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images

    A man takes a photograph of the International Departures board in Tripoli International Airport in Libya on September 21. With the capital looking to regain stability, Turkish Airlines have agreed to begin international flights to and from Libya.

    Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images

    An armed soldier loyal to Libya's new rulers walks on the runway of Tripoli International Airport on September 21 as Turkish Airlines agreed to begin international flights to and from Libya with the capital looking to regain stability.

    Abdel Magid Al Fergany / AP

    Libyan passengers wait by their baggage at the departure hall in the Tripoli airport after it was re-opened for passengers, in Tripoli, Libya Wednesday, Sept. 21. The U.S. ambassador to Libya returned to Tripoli Wednesday to lead a newly reopened American Embassy in a post-Moammar Gadhafi era.

  • Libya's revolutionary leader calls for civil state

    AP reports:

    TRIPOLI, Libya — The chief of Libya's revolutionary movement told thousands of cheering Libyans in Tripoli Monday to strive for a civil, democratic state, while loyalists of the hunted dictator Moammar Gadhafi killed at least 15 opposition fighters in an attack on a key oil town in Libya's east.

    Mustafa Abdul-Jalil addressed a rowdy crowd of thousands in Martyr's Square in central Tripoli, a site that until recently was famous for pro-Gadhafi rallies. Flanked by a few dozen revolutionary leaders in their largest public gathering since rebel forces stormed into the capital on Aug. 21, he called on Libyans to build a state based on the rule of law.

    Full story.

    Francois Mori / AP

    Libyan revolutionary supporters react as Libyan Transitional National Council chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil delivers his speech on the former Green Square renamed as Martyr's Square inTripoli, Libya, Monday, Sept. 12.

    Francois Mori/AP

    Libyan Transitional National Council chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil waves to supporters after his speech on the former Green Square renamed as Martyr's Square in Tripoli, Libya, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011. The chief of Libya's former rebels arrived in Tripoli on Saturday, greeted by a boisterous red carpet ceremony meant to show he's taking charge of the interim government replacing the ousted regime of Moammar Gadhafi. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

    Mohamed Messara/EPA

    People wait for the arrival of National Transitional Council (NTC) head Mustafa Abdul Jalil to attend a celebration rally at Martyrs' square in Tripoli on September 12.

      

     

  • Francois Mori / AP

    Libyan people rush to talk to a bank employee as banks reopen in Tripoli, Libya, on Tuesday Aug. 30, 2011. Libyan banks reopened Tuesday, and the public rushed to get cash from their accounts.

    Banks reopen in Tripoli

    By Rich Shulman

    I always thought "run on the banks" was just an expression; not so much in Libya today.

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