Islamic State in Libya
The Islamic State – Libya Province is a militant Islamist group active in Libya under three branches: Fezzan Province (Arabic: ولاية فزان, Wilayah Fizan) in the desert south, Cyrenaica Province (Arabic: ولاية برقة, Wilayah Barqah) in the east, and Tripolitania Province (Arabic: ولاية طرابلس, Wilayah Tarabulus) in the west.[27][28] The branches were formed on 13 November 2014, following pledges of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by militants in Libya.[29]
Libyan Provinces
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (2014–2019) † (Leader of ISIL)
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (2019–2022) † (Leader of ISIL)
Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (2022–2022) † (Leader of ISIL)
Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi (2022–2023) † (Leader of ISIL)
Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (2023–present) (Leader of ISIL)
Abu Nabil al-Anbari † (Nom de guerre Abul Mughirah al Qahtani)[1][2][3]
Abdul Qader al-Najdi †[3][4]
Abdulsalam Darkullah (2023?) [5]
Background[edit]
Following the 2011 Libyan Civil War, which resulted in the ousting of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his government, many rebel fighters went to Syria to fight alongside militant groups who were fighting Bashar al-Assad and his loyalists in the Syrian Civil War.[30] In 2012, one group of Libyans fighting in Syria declared the establishment of the Battar Brigade. The Battar Brigade would later pledge loyalty to IS, and fight for it in both Syria and Iraq.[31]
In early 2014, up to 300 Battar Brigade veterans returned to Libya. In Derna, they formed a new faction called the Islamic Youth Shura Council, which began recruiting militants from other local groups. Among those who joined were many members of the Derna branch of Ansar al-Sharia.[31][32] During the next few months, they declared war on anyone in Derna who opposed them, killing judges, civic leaders and other opponents, including local militants who rejected their authority such as the al-Qaeda-allied Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade.[20]
In September 2014, an IS delegation that had been dispatched by the group's leadership arrived in Libya. The representatives included Abu Nabil al Anbari, a senior aide to al-Baghdadi and a veteran of the Iraq conflict,[20] the Saudi Abu Habib al-Jazrawi, and the Yemeni[32] or Saudi[20] Abu al-Baraa el-Azdi, a militant and preacher from Syria.[20][31][33] On 5 October 2014, the Islamic Youth Shura Council-aligned militant factions came together and pledged allegiance to IS. After the pledging ceremony, more than 60 pickup trucks filled with fighters cruised through the city in a victory parade.[32] A second more formal gathering involving a larger array of factions took place on 30 October 2014, where the militants gathered to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the city square.[32][34]
On 13 November 2014, al-Baghdadi released an audio recording in which he accepted pledges of allegiance from supporters in five countries, including Libya, and announced the expansion of his group to those territories.[35] He went on to announce the creation of three "provinces" (wilayah) in Libya: Wilayah al-Fizan (Fezzan in the desert south), Wilayah al-Barqah (Cyrenaica in the east), and Wilayah al-Tarabulus (Tripolitania in the west).[28][27][36] The three wilayahs in Libya represent statelets.[37]
Foreign fighters[edit]
In Libya, IS heavily relied on foreign volunteers for its fighting forces. IS recruits came from across the Middle East and Africa.[73] Libyan intelligence chiefs claimed in early February 2016, that the Islamic State is recruiting fighters from Africa's poorest nations, including Chad, Mali and Sudan. IS offers generous salaries compared to the average wages in the region. Many of the fighters reach Libya using existing people-smuggling routes used by African migrants heading to Europe.[74] Following the battle of Sirte during which most of IS's foreign forces in Libya were killed,[65] the Libyan branch increasingly recruited Sub-Saharan Africans into its ranks.[75]
Propaganda[edit]
The "Media Office for Cyrenaica Province" has published photos and other material showing buildings with IS insignia, suicide bombers, parades, and pledges of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.[76] A reporter for The New York Times who visited the outskirts of Sirte found that IS had taken over the local radio station, and all four stations on the dial were being used to transmit Islamic sermons.[44]
IS in Libya had threatened to facilitate the arrival of thousands of migrants to destabilize Europe if they are attacked.[77]
Commentary and significance[edit]
The growth of its branch in Libya is seen by IS and its proponents as a model for IS expansion outside Iraq and Syria.[25][102]
The Long War Journal wrote that no well-established Libyan militant organizations had pledged their support to the group and that "the Islamic State has failed, thus far, to garner the allegiance of
Ansar al Sharia Libya, which is notorious for its role in the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi and remains one of the most powerful jihadist organizations in eastern Libya. None of Ansar al Sharia's allies in the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, the Islamist coalition fighting General Khalifa Haftar's forces for control of territory, pledged allegiance to Baghdadi. The Islamic State has supporters in Libya, particularly among the jihadist youth. But other groups are still, by all outward appearances, more entrenched."[103]
Libya Dawn claimed that it had intelligence reports showing that those who claimed to support IS in Tripoli were agents provocateur planted by foreign countries to discredit it. The statement was viewed as an attempt to explain away the growing issue of the extremists in western Libya, with IS supporters said to be present at the Majr camp in Zliten, and in Sabratha.[104] Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat and Leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil called for the United Nations and European Union to intervene in Libya to prevent the country from becoming a failed state.[105][106]