Page "Armed Forces of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" Paragraph 4

These measures did not prevent, however, a group of army officers led by then Captain Muammar Gaddafi ( a signals officer ) seizing power on 1 September 1969.

Pollack says that the defeat of the Arabs during the Six-Day War of July 1967 was an important factor in the coup, as the officers believed that Libya should have dispatched forces to aid Egypt and the other Arab states.

Idris had also tried to reform the military, but only half-heartedly, further frustrating young Libyan officers.

Immediately after the coup, Gaddafi began to dismiss, arrest, or execute every officer above the rank of colonel in the armed forces, as well as some other lower-ranking officers closely linked to the monarchy.

Then he began to reorganise the armed forces in line with his foreign policy plans.

Expansion of the army and amalgamation of the CDF and NSF into the army was the first priority, and by 1970 the force numbered nearly 20, 000.

Attention was also focused on the Air Force, with the pre-coup strength of 400 personnel and ten Northrop F-5 ' Freedom Fighter ' jet fighters planned to be supplemented with large-scale purchases of Mirage III fighters from France.