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Libyan Islamic Fighting Group

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Libyan Fighting Group (Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya)
LeaderAbdelhakim Belhadj
Dates of operation1995 - present
MotivesOverthrow Muammar Gaddafi and to Establishi an Islamic state.[1]
Active regions Libya

Libyan Islamic Movement (al-Harakat al-Islamiya al-Libiya) formerly known as The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) also known as Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya (Arabic: الجامعة الإسلامية المقاتلة بليبيا) is a group active in Libya which played a key role in deposing Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime, allying itself with the National Transitional Council. However the organisation has a troubled history being under pressure from Muammar Gaddafi and shortly after the 9-11 attacks, LIFG was banned worldwide (as an affiliate of al-Qaeda) by the UN 1267 Committee.[2] Listed at the Foreign Terrorist Organizations,[3] the group has denied ever being affiliated with al-Qaeda, stating that it refused to join the global Islamic front Osama bin Laden declared against the west in 1998.[4]

History

LIFG was founded in 1990 by Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. It aims to establish an Islamic state in Libya and views the Gaddafi regime as oppressive, corrupt and anti-Muslim, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. LIFG claimed responsibility for a failed assassination attempt against Gaddafi in February 1996, which was in part funded by MI6 according to David Shayler, and engaged Libyan security forces in armed clashes during the mid-to-late 1990s.[5] They continue to target Libyan interests and may engage in sporadic clashes with Libyan security forces.[6]

Adnkronos International reported that the group was founded in Afghanistan by Abu Laith Al Libi and other veterans of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.[7]

Relationship with al Qaeda

The LIFG links to Al-Qaeda hail from Afghanistan, where hundreds joined Al-Qaeda. High ranking LIFG operatives inside Al-Qaeda, are the leader of the insurgency Abdel-Hakim Belhadj (also known as Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq), and the recently killed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, who was killed in a CIA drone strike, and Al-Qaeda's Abu Yahya al-Libi.[8]

The Telegraph reported that senior Al Qaeda members Abu Yahya al-Libi and Abu Laith al-Libi were LIFG members.[9] One of al-Qaeda's most senior members, Atiyah Abdul-Rahman, is purportedly a member of LIFG as well.[10]

In an audio message published in November 2007 Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Laith al-Libi claimed that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had joined al-Qaeda.[11][12][7] "Benotman fired back an open letter to Zawahiri questioning his credibility. "I questioned their idea of jihad ... directly you know. This is crazy, it is not Islamic and it's against the Sunni understanding of Islam," Benotman told CNN. Zawahiri chose not to respond. As late as this August Zawahiri's video statements included praise of LIFG leaders, in what may have been a desperate attempt to head off the condemnation he could see coming."[13]

In November 2007 Noman Benotman, described as the "ex-head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group", published on open letter to al-Qaeda.[14][15][16] According to The Times:[15]

"In November last year Noman Benotman, ex-head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which is trying to overthrow the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, published a letter which asked Al-Qaeda to give up all its operations in the Islamic world and in the West, adding that ordinary westerners were blameless and should not be attacked."

Noman Benotman's letter to Zawahiri was published in Akhbar Libya (News) as an op-ed clarification in November 2007. The gist is that al-Qaeda's efforts have been counterproductive and used as "subterfuge" by some Western countries to extend their regional ambitions. These comments were first aired at a meeting in Kandahar in the summer of 2000.[17]

On 10 July 2009, The Telegraph reported that some member organisations of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had split with Al Qaeda.[9]

Mass release of captives

In September 2009 a new "code" for jihad, a 417-page religious document entitled "Corrective Studies", was published after more than two years of intense and secret talks between incarcerated leaders of the LIFG and Libyan security officials.

On April 9, 2008, Al Jazeera reported that Libya released at least over 90 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.[12][7] The Italian press agency Adnkronos International reported the release was due to the efforts of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and leader of the charity Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations. It reported that a third of the LIFG members Libya was holding were released.

The US State Department describes LIFG:Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)

Description: In the early 1990s, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) emerged from the group of Libyans who had fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan and the Qadhafi regime in Libya. The LIFG declared Libyan President Muammar Qadhafi un-Islamic and pledged to overthrow him. In the years following, some members maintained a strictly anti-Qadhafi focus and targeted Libyan government interests. Others, such as Abu al-Faraj al-Libi, who in 2005 was arrested in Pakistan, aligned with Usama bin Ladin and are believed to be part of the al-Qa’ida (AQ) leadership structure or active in the international terrorist network. On November 3, 2007, senior AQ leaders announced that LIFG had officially joined AQ.

Activities: Libyans associated with the LIFG are part of the broader international terrorist movement. The LIFG is one of the groups believed to have planned the Casablanca suicide bombings in May 2003. Spanish media in August 2005 linked Ziyad Hashem, an alleged member of the LIFG’s media committee, as well as the imprisoned amir Abdallah al-Sadeq, with Tunisian Islamist Serhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, the suspected ringleader in the 2004 Madrid attacks. The LIFG continued to target Libyan interests, and attempted to assassinate Qadhafi four times; the last attempt was in 1998. The LIFG engaged Libyan security forces in armed clashes during the 1990s. However, the LIFG has been largely operationally inactive in Libya since the late 1990s when members fled predominately to Europe and the Middle East because of tightened Libyan security measures. To date, the November 3 merger with AQ has not resulted in a significant increase in LIFG activities within Libya.

Strength: The LIFG probably has several hundred active members or supporters, mostly in the Middle East or Europe.

Location/Area of Operation: Since the late 1990s, many members have fled to various Asian, Arabian Gulf, African, and European countries, particularly the UK. It is likely that LIFG maintained a limited presence in eastern Libya.

External Aid: Unknown. The LIFG has used Islamic charitable organizations as cover for fundraising and transferring money and documents; it may have also financed operations with criminal activity.

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2007/103714.htm

2011 Libyan civil war

In March 2011, members of the LIFG in Ajdabiya declared to the press that the group supports the revolt against Gaddafi's rule, and had placed themselves under the leadership of the National Transitional Council. They also stated that the group had changed its name to Libyan Islamic Movement (al-Harakat al-Islamiya al-Libiya), had around 500–600 militants released from jail in recent years, and denied any past or present affiliation with Al-Qaeda.[18]

An emir of the LIFG, Abdelhakim Belhadj,[19] became the commander of the Tripoli Military Council after the rebels took over Tripoli during the 2011 Battle of Tripoli.

On March 2011, Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, a leading member of the group, admit to the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore that his fighters had al-Qaeda links.[20] Al-Hasidi was captured in 2002 in Peshwar, Pakistan, later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008. He admit in the same interview that he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" of Afghanistan.[20]

LIFG at list of terrorist organizations

LIFG is on the US list of terrorist organizations.[21] It is also on the UK 'Proscribed terrorist groups list'.[22]

LIFG at list of terrorist organizations

LIFG is on the US list of terrorist organizations.[23] It is also on the UK 'Proscribed terrorist groups list'.[24]

UK Terrorism Act 2000

On October 10, 2005, the United Kingdom's Home Office banned LIFG and fourteen other militant groups from operating in the UK. Under the United Kingdom's Terrorism Act 2000, being a member of a LIFG is punishable with a 10-year prison term. The Financial Sanctions Unit of the Bank of England acting on behalf of HM Treasury issued the orders to freeze all their assets.[25] The fifteen banned groups were:

Mohammed Benhammedi lived and worked in Liverpool at the time of the UN sanction against him. Sergey Zakurko, the father to his Lithuanian mistress was suspended from his job at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) for fear that the link could pose a security threat.[26]

UN-embargoed affiliates

On 7 February 2006 the UN embargoed five specific LIFG members and four corporations, all of whom had continued to operate in England until at least October 2005. Those nine are in the following table; the accusations are according to the US State Department.[27]

Abd Al-Rahman Al-Faqih عبد الرحمن الفقيه Possibly the same person as the jihadist writer Abdul-Rahman Hasan.[28] Wanted in Morocco in connection with the mass murders of 16 May 2003 in Casablanca.
Ghuma Abd'rabbah غومه عبد الرباح Trustee of the Sanabel terrorist charity, by which he transferred money and travel documents to terrorists abroad.
Abdulbaqi Mohammed Khaled عبد الباقي محمد خالد Trustee of the Sanabel terrorist charity; GIA affiliate.
Mohammed Benhammedi محمد بن حامدي Financier of LIFG.
Tahir Nasuf طاهر ناصف Previously of the Libyan GIA circle in the UK.
Sara Properties Limited Source of some of Benhammedi's money.
Meadowbrook Investments Limited Source of some of Benhammedi's money.
Ozlam Properties Limited Source of some of Benhammedi's money.
Sanabel Relief Agency Limited Alias SARA, a charity front by which LIFG transacted with other al-Qaeda components (including GICM) via its office in Kabul, prior to the fall of the Taliban.

The "Summary of Evidence" from Mohammed Fenaitel Mohamed Al Daihani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal. states: "The Sanabal Charitable Committee is considered a fund raising front for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group."[29]

In June of 2011, all of the entities included in the table above were de-listed by the United Nations Security Council Committee. [30]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Islamic militant group pledges support to anti-Gadafi rebels". Irish Times. 29 March 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011. We want to help take our country from the revolutionary stage to the stage of rebuilding the nation, says al-Madhouni. "At that point we will hand over our weapons, when the LNC demands it." ... The Libyan National Council says its vision is of a democratic Libya... "As long as this democracy is not against Islam, we will accept it. What we are looking for is a state that respects Islam as the religion of the people. Anything that goes against Islam, we will refuse it."
  2. ^ "UN list of affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Taliban". Un.org. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
  3. ^ "Foreign Terrorist Organizations - Multimedia Counterterrorism Calendar". Nctc.gov. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
  4. ^ "Islamic militant group pledges support to anti-Gadafi rebels". Irish Times. 29 March 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011. Both reject claims the LIFG has been affiliated with al-Qaeda, noting that the group refused to join the global Islamic front Osama bin Laden declared against the west in 1998.
  5. ^ Gary Gambill (March 24, 2005). "The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)". The Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on July 18, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
  6. ^ US Department of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism 2002
  7. ^ a b c "Libya: Scores of prisoners released from jail". Adkronos International. April 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-10. The group was formed in the mid-1990s in Afghanistan by some veterans of the war against the Soviet forces.
  8. ^ Ian Black, Middle East editor. "The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – from al-Qaida to the Arab spring | World news | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. Retrieved 2011-11-08. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  9. ^ a b David Blair (2009-07-10). "Extremist group announces split from al-Qaeda". London: The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  10. ^ Wanted: Atiyah Abd al Rahman, Rewards for Justice Program, US Department of State
  11. ^ "Libyan Islamists 'join al-Qaeda'". BBC News. 2007-11-03.
  12. ^ a b "Libya releases scores of prisoners". Al Jazeera. April 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  13. ^ New jihad code threatens al Qaeda, Nic Robertson and Paul Cruickshank, CNN, November 10, 2009
  14. ^ Paul Cruikshank (June 8, 2008). "How Muslim extremists are turning on Osama Bin Laden". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  15. ^ a b Abul Taher (June 8, 2008). "Al-Qaeda: the cracks begin to show". London: The Times. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2008-06-09. In November last year Noman Benotman, ex-head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which is trying to overthrow the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, published a letter which asked Al-Qaeda to give up all its operations in the Islamic world and in the West, adding that ordinary westerners were blameless and should not be attacked.
  16. ^ "Op-Ed: Al Qaeda Is Losing Support Among Jihadists". Digital Journal. June 8, 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  17. ^ [1][dead link]
  18. ^ "Islamic militant group pledges support to anti-Gadafi rebels". Irish Times. 29 March 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  19. ^ Gunaratna, Rohan (2010). "Interviews with leadership of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group". Combating Terrorism in Libya through Dialogue and Reintegration (PDF). Singapore: International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Nanyang Technological University. p. 18. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  20. ^ a b Swami, Praveen. "Libyan rebel commander (Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi) admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links". Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  21. ^ "Foreign Terrorist Organizations - Multimedia Counterterrorism Calendar". Nctc.gov. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
  22. ^ "Proscribed terrorist groups". UK Home Office. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  23. ^ "Foreign Terrorist Organizations - Multimedia Counterterrorism Calendar". Nctc.gov. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
  24. ^ "Proscribed terrorist groups". UK Home Office. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  25. ^ Bank of England|Publications|News|2006|Financial Sanctions: Al-Qa'ida and Taliban, 8 February 2006[dead link]
  26. ^ "Al-Qaida accused 'linked to N-plant terror threat'". Liverpool Daily Post. 22 February 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
  27. ^ Treasury Designates UK-Based Individuals, Entities Financing Al Qaida-Affiliated LIFG, US State Department
  28. ^ USMA Militant Ideology Atlas, p. 291
  29. ^ Summary of Evidence (.pdf) from pages 25-26 of Mohammed Fenaitel Mohamed Al Daihani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal
  30. ^ Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee Approves Deletion of Eight Entries from Al-Qaida Sanctions List
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