Part 2/9:
To understand how Libya reached this point, we must revisit its colonial past. For centuries, Libya was a fragmented territory under the Ottoman Empire until Italy invaded in 1911, claiming it as its own. This invasion resulted in the establishment of a brutal settler colony, which faced fierce resistance led by figures like Omar Mukhtar, the "Lion of the Desert." Despite Mukhtar's ultimate defeat and execution, the dream of independence lingered, leading to a complex post-World War II landscape where both British and French ambitions clashed over control of Libya.