Free French forces from French Chad occupied the area that was the former Italian Southern Military Territory in 1943,[2] and made several requests to annex Fezzan administratively to France's North African possessions.

The British administration began the training of a badly needed Libyan civil service.

In the lightly populated Fezzan region, a French military administration formed a counterpart to the British operation.

With British approval, Free French forces moved north from Chad to take control of the territory in January 1943.

French administration was directed by a staff stationed in Sabha, but it was largely exercised through Fezzan notables of the family of Sayf an Nasr.