The Uprising in Libya

Abstract

Right off the bat, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah -bi-Libya) was one of the main actors in the uprising. It was linked to al-Qa’ida and commanded by Abu Yahya al-Libi, whose jihadists had revolted against the Gaddafi regime in 1990, in the cities of Benghazi and Darnah, where they had gathered after returning from the Jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Many radical Muslims, Salafists exiled by Gaddafi, entered Libya through the borders of Mali, Egypt and other countries. About 350 former terrorists who were pardoned and released by the Gaddafi regime were already in Benghazi since 2009, and this number rose to 850 when the revolt broke out.

By providing financial resources, weapons and all sorts of logistical assistance to the rebels, the United States and other NATO countries sponsored terrorist organizations, such as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, whose strategic objective was to rebuild the Islamic Caliphate and restore Shari’ah as in the times of the Prophet. The former mujahidin who had fought U.S. forces in Afghanistan were leading the rebels in Libya. Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, one of the insurgent leaders and head or the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, admitted to the Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore that he had recruited around 25 jihadists in Darnah to fight against U.S. troops in Iraq, and that some of them were now in the front lines at Adjabiya, in northeastern Libya, fighting against the forces of Gaddafi.