Libyan Islamists Gaining Strength
James Phillips /
Although Libya has rid itself of the Muammar Qadhafi regime, it faces an uncertain future endangered by radical Islamist factions, warring militia commanders, tribal rivalries, a lack of democratic traditions, and a civil society ravaged by decades of authoritarian rule. Last week, two militias clashed violently in a turf war in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.
Catherine Herridge, the chief intelligence correspondent for Fox News, noted the rise of Libyan Islamists in an article earlier last week. She cited a recent report by Kronos, LLC, that assessed the prominent role in the Libyan rebellion played by Islamist militants affiliated with the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a revolutionary Islamist group that merged with al-Qaeda in 2007.
Abdul Hakim Belhaj, the former leader of the LIFG who traveled to Afghanistan and joined forces with the Taliban, has emerged as one of the most powerful leaders in post-Qadhafi Libya. Belhaj led one of the strongest militias in the uprising against Qadhafi and was appointed as the head of the Tripoli Military Council. Belhaj, who asserts that he never joined al-Qaeda, was arrested in Malaysia in 2004, jailed in Libya, and released in 2010 when he ostensibly disavowed terrorism.
Belhaj and other Libyan Islamists have been boosted by aid from foreign Islamist movements and Arab regimes, particularly Qatar. Qatar, a small but wealthy Persian Gulf kingdom endowed with enormous natural gas resources, played a leading role in supporting the anti-Qadhafi opposition with financial aid, arms, and military advisers. It gave sanctuary to Ali Sallabi, the Libyan Islamist cleric who has emerged as a “likely architect” of the new Libya. Qatar’s support for Libya’s Islamist factions has earned it the resentment of many Libyans who fear the imposition of an Islamist dictatorship.
The opaque nature of the Libyan opposition and the important role within it played by Islamists were two reasons that The Heritage Foundation recommended last spring that the United States adopt a cautious policy towards the Libyan rebel coalition. It would be a shame if Qadhafi’s authoritarian regime, as bad as it was, is replaced with a totalitarian Islamist regime that poses even greater threats to the United States, its allies, and the Libyan people.