On 17th February 2011 there was a popular insurrection in Bengasi against the regime of the Libyan Rais, Colonel Muhammar Gheddafi; after a month, that insurrection became a civil war. In order to coordinate the operations, the National Transitional Council (NTC) authorized the creation of an Operations Center in Bengasi. In the context of a wider Italian military engagement for the resolution of the Libyan crisis as well as initiatives by other Countries (United Arab Emirates, Spain, France, Great Britain, Jordan and Qatar), the national political Authorities authorized the sending of an Instructors team to support the OPSCENTER in the acquisition of autonomous capacities. On 28th April 2011 the Operation "Cirene" was launched.
Since September 2013 "Cirene" was renamed "Italian Military Mission in Libya (MIL), without changing the aims of the previous Operation.
In that context, on 26th September 2013 the Operation "COORTE" started, aiming to train about 2.000 Libyan soldiers on the Libyan territory and later on the Italian one. The Operation permitted the initial training of about 400 Libyan units and it ended on 30th January 2015.
On 1st January 2018 the bilateral Mission of Assistance and Support in Libya (MIASIT) was launched aiming to give assistance and support to the Libyan national Government Agreement. It is the result of a reorganization in a unique disposal of the medical and humanitarian support activities provided by the
"Hippocrates" Operation and of technical support tasks in favour of the Coast Guard, according to the "Safe Sea" Operation.
The new mission has reorganized the joint forces activities on the Libyan territory in order to increase the capability of the local Security Forces in view of the stabilization of the Country and the contrast to terrorism and to the illegal migratory flows.
A Brigadier General is the MIASIT Commander.