| Ansar al-Sharia in Libya | |
|---|---|
| أنصار الشريعة بليبيا | |
 | |
| Leaders | Abu Khalid al Madani[1] Mohamed al-Zahawi †[2] |
| Dates of operation | June 2012 – 27 May 2017[3][4][5] |
| Group | Ansar al-Sharia (Derna)[6] |
| Active regions | Benghazi[7] Other cities in Eastern Libya[8] |
| Ideology | Islamism Salafi jihadism Anti-Gaddafism |
| Size | 4,500–5,000+[9] |
| Part of |  Al-Qaeda[3]Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries Ajdabiya Shura Council |
| Allies | |
| Opponents | Al-Saiqa (Libya) Operation Dignity coalition |
| Battles and wars | Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present) |
| Designated as a terrorist group by |  Iraq Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United Nations United States |
Ansar al-Sharia in Libya (ASL,Arabic:أنصار الشريعة بليبيا,lit. 'Supporters ofSharia') was anAl-Qaeda-alignedSalafi Jihadist militia group that advocated the implementation ofSharia acrossLibya.[3] Ansar al-Sharia came into being in 2011, during theLibyan Civil War.[12] Until January 2015, it was led by its "Amir", Muhammad al-Zahawi.[2] As part of its strategy, the organization targeted specific Libyan and American civilians for death and took part in the2012 Benghazi attack.[12] The group was designated as aterrorist organization by the United Nations,[13] Iraq,[14] Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom[15] and the United States.[12]
On 27 May 2017, the group announced it was formally dissolving itself, amid heavy losses that killed most of its leadership and decimated its fighters.[5]
Ansar al-Sharia was formed during theFirst Libyan Civil War and rose to prominence after the killing ofMuammar Gaddafi. Made up of former rebels from the Abu Obayda Bin Aljarah Brigade, Malik Brigade andFebruary 17th Martyrs Brigade and several other groups,[9] the Salafist militia initially made their name by posting videos of themselves fighting in theBattle of Sirte, the final battle in the war.[16]
Their first major public appearance occurred on 7 June 2012, when they led a rally of as many as two hundredpickup trucks mounted with artillery[17] along Benghazi's Tahrir Square and demanded the imposition ofSharia law.[18] According to theNew York Times, "Western diplomats who watched said they were stunned by the scale and weaponry of the display."[17]
The leader of Ansar al-Sharia, Sheikh Muhammad al-Zahawi, later gave an interview on a local TV station forbidding participation in Libya's first post-civil warparliamentary elections on the grounds that they were un-Islamic.[19] The militia went on to provide security to some public property ineastern Libya, including Benghazi's Al Jala Hospital.[16] The group is reportedly the military arm of Al-Dawa wa Al-Islah, a charitable organization.[20]
Noman Benotman, a former member of theLibyan Islamic Fighting Group and analyst of LibyanIslamism claims that Ansar al-Sharia is less an organization than a term applied to an amorphous coalition ofIslamist andSalafist groups active ineastern Libya.[21] The logo of the Ansar al-Sharia is a pair ofAK-47assault rifles, a clenched fist with one finger pointed up, an openKoran, and ablack flag.[22]
Fawzi Bukatef, the leader in Benghazi of the rival Islamist militiaFebruary 17th Martyrs Brigade, claimed that members of the organisation had been responsible for the assassination ofAbdul Fatah Younis, the commander ofrebel forces during theLibyan Civil War.[23]
Ansar al-Sharia carried outdestruction ofSufishrines in Benghazi, which they regarded asidolatrous.[24] In November 2011, Libyan Salafis engaged in a series of attacks on Sufi shrines all over the country.[25]Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, the president of theGeneral National Congress (GNC) denounced the shrine attacks as "disgraceful acts" and said "those involved were criminals who would be pursued."[25]
Ansar al-Sharia used its online presence to denounce the 2013 capture and removal from Libya ofal-Qaeda operativeAbu Anas al-Libi, by American military forces.[26]
Aside from militant activities, Ansar al-Sharia has attempted to gain local support throughDawah (missionary activities), the provision of social services, ranging from security patrols to garbage collection, and the establishment of medical clinics and religious schools.[10] In January 2015, the group introducedIslamic religious police and a sharia court in parts of Benghazi.[27]
On 11 September 2012, theUnited States Department of State Operations Center advised theWhite House Situation Room and other U.S. security units that Ansar al-Sharia was claiming responsibility for theattack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi that had just occurred.[28] Witnesses said they saw vehicles with the group's logo at the scene of the assault and that armed fighters there acknowledged at the time that they belonged to Ansar al-Sharia.[23] Libyan witnesses also said they sawAhmed Abu Khattala, a commander of Ansar al-Sharia, leading the embassy attack, a claim Khattala later denied.[29]
According toFDD's Long War Journal, Ansar al-Sharia issued a statement the next day, on 12 September 2012, asserting that it "didn't participate as a sole entity" and that the attack "was a spontaneous popular uprising" in reaction to the YouTube film trailer ofInnocence of Muslims, considered to be anti-Islamic.[30]
On 6 August 2013, U.S. officials confirmed thatAhmed Abu Khattala, the Libyan leader of Ansar al-Sharia, had been charged with playing a significant role in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi. According to NBC, the charges were filed under seal in Washington, D.C., in late July 2013[31] Khattala was arrested by U.S.Delta Force special operations personnel in a raid in Libya on 15 June 2014.[32][33] He was transported to the United States aboard theUSSNew York transport dock and was eventually tried in a U.S. criminal court.[34][35]
On 21 September 2012, after massive anti-militia protests in Benghazi which largely blamed Ansar al-Sharia for the mission attack, hundreds of protesters stormed the militia headquarters, pulled down flags of the militia and torched a vehicle inside the base.[36] The group was forced out of its bases in Benghazi the next day.[37]
A few hours after the attack,Martyrs of 17 February, together withBou Salim Martyrs brigade, allegedly agreed to disband,[38] however about 150-200 militiamen moved from Benghazi toJebel Akhdar area.[39]
As of December 2012, the group still existed, although it had adopted a low-key position.[40] By March 2013, the group had returned to Benghazi and began patrolling hospitals and manning checkpoints, as well as providing humanitarian services to residents.[41] By late 2013, the group had opened up abranch in Derna, under the slogan "A step toward building the Islamic state".[42] The group also established a presence in the Libyan cities ofAjdabiya andSirte.[8]
Ansar al-Sharia was also featured in the film13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.
Following prolonged tensions betweenIslamists and non-Islamists in Libya, on 16 May 2014 military forces loyal to GeneralKhalifa Haftar launched a large-scale air and ground offensive codenamedOperation Dignity on Islamist militia groups inBenghazi, including Ansar al-Sharia. The offensive caused a country-wide military escalation that led to the beginning of theSecond Libyan Civil War.[43][44]
After initial reverses, Ansar al-Sharia, and other Islamist and jihadist militias fighting together as theShura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, launched a counteroffensive against units loyal to Haftar in the following months, largely driving them out of the city by August of the same year.[45][46] After capturing several army bases in this offensive, Ansar al-Sharia posted images on the internet of the weapons and equipment that had been seized, includingD-30 Howitzers,multiple rocket launchers,Strela 2man-portable air-defense systems, large quantities of ammunition and vehicles.[46][47]
In late 2014, the group's leader, Mohamed al-Zahawi, died of wounds he had received from the fighting.[2] In the months that followed, many members of Ansar al-Sharia, including the majority of its organisation in Sirte, reportedly defected to theIslamic State in Libya.[48][49] On 30 March 2015, the group's chief Sharia jurist, Abu Abdullah Al-Libi, pledged allegiance to IS,[50] and defected with a number of fighters. Ansar al-Sharia quickly announced that Abu Tamim al Libi had been selected as his replacement.[51] For several years thereafter the group retained its independence from IS,[27] but continued losses through casualties in fighting theLibyan National Army underKhalifa Haftar and further defections to IS,brought them to dissolution in 2017, with many of the remaining fighters going to IS.[52]
The2015 kidnapping and beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya for being "people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian [Coptic] church," has been blamed on Ansar al-Sharia by Carol E.B. Choksy and Jamsheed K. Choksy of World Affairs.[53]
The United States officially listed Ansar al-Sharia as a terrorist organization in January 2014.[12] The United Kingdom followed suit in November.[15]
