In Brief

• Areas  of Operation: Headquartered in the mountains of northeastern Libya, but members have likely dispersed to Europe and other Middle Eastern countries • Goals/Ideology: To create an Islamist Libyan state • Funding Source: Combination of private donations, Islamic NGOs, and revenue from criminal activity • Leader: Anas Sebai • Strength: Estimates range from 100 to 2,500 • Activities: 1996 attempted assassination of Moammar Gadhafi; sporadic clashes with Libyan security forces; links to al-Qaida attacks on U.S. embasies in Africa • Aliases: Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-libya, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. Libyan Fighting Group, Libyan Islamic Group, Fighting Islamic Group (FIG)

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) is a band of radical Islamists dedicated to overthrowing the regime of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi and replacing it with a government modeled on Sharia law, with special attention to the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad. The LIFG believes that the Gadhafi regime is oppressive, corrupt and apostate.

Public information on the group is sparse and contradictory. Very little is known about its leader Anas Sebai, but it is estimated to have between 100 active members and 2,500 sympathizers. Funding for the LIFG likely comes from several sources including Islamic non-governmental organizations, wealthy individuals and criminal activities.

Interviews with LIFG spokesmen in 1996 and 1999 revealed that the organization sees itself as the servants of God and the saviors of the Libyan people from the Moammar Gadhafi regime. The rhetoric used by LIFG members in the interviews is designed to appeal to the Libyans’ nationalist and Muslim identities. The LIFG’s long-term goal is change: “to unite the community of believers and make them powerful.” The spokesmen also implied that the LIFG plans to carry out terrorist attacks in the medium-term as part of its strategy toward change. The group is confident that a silent majority of Libyans support their cause.

The LIFG was founded in 1995 by a group of mujahideen veterans who had fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Upon their return to Libya they grew angry about what they viewed as the corruption and impiety of the Libyan regime and formed the LIFG to create a state that would show what they believed to be the true character of the Libyan people.

The most significant LIFG attack was a 1996 attempt to assassinate Gadhafi; LIFG members led by Wadi al-Shateh threw a bomb underneath his motorcade. The group also stages guerilla-style attacks against government security forces from its mountain bases. Although most LIFG members are strictly dedicated to toppling Gadhafi, intelligence reportedly indicates that some have joined forces with al-Qaida to wage jihad against Libyan and Western interests worldwide.

After the assassination attempt, Gadhafi cracked down heavily on the LIFG, forcing many of its members to flee Libya and seek refuge in Europe and the greater Middle East. In June 1998 the LIFG warned that it would retaliate against Libyan targets abroad when Gadhafi threatened to eliminate opposition expatriates.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks on America, many analysts believed that Gadhafi had crushed the LIFG, but on Sept. 25, 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush signed an executive order freezing LIFG assets on the grounds that it was planning attacks on the United States and its allies. The U.S. State Department added the LIFG to the terrorist exclusion list the following December so that no known members of the group could enter the United States.

Several high-level U.S. officials went to Libya in October 2001 to meet with Abu Kusa, the infamous head of Libya’s External Security Organization. Kusa apparently revealed the names of several Libyan militants who had trained at Qaida camps in Afghanistan and of several Libyan militants living in the United Kingdom. In January 2002, the United States captured Anas al-Liby, a Libyan affiliated with al-Qaida who was involved in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The LIFG charges that Western values undermine Muslim and Libyan values and that all “despot” regimes – such as it sees Gadhafi’s as being – oppress the Islamic world with similarly tainted policies, indicating the group regards the United States as an enemy. In addition, the LIFG has pledged to support and show solidarity with jihadi groups everywhere, leading analysts to conclude that they are a key link in the global network of Islamist terrorist organizations.

The CIA seems to agree. As recently as February 2004, then-Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that “one of the most immediate threats [to U.S. security] is from smaller international Sunni extremist groups that have benefited from al-Qaida links. They include … the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.” Tenet gave the same assessment to the Senate Armed Services Committee and the 9/11 Commission the following month.

While decreased tension between Libya and the United States could spell trouble for the LIFG, it is also possible that the thaw will further invigorate the hard-line faction of the group against American and Libyan interests. In any event the fight should continue for some time: the LIFG has pledged to continue its campaign until either it or the Libyan regime is destroyed.

Sources

Steven Aftergood and John Pike, “Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.” FAS Intelligence Resource Program, May 1, 2003. 

“Al-Qaida,” Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2000, United States Department of State, April 2001.

“Al-Qaeda Targets Gadhafi,” National Post, Dec. 24, 2003.

“Bin Laden: U.S. Banned List.” BBC News Online. Sept. 25, 2001.

Christopher Boucek, “Libya’s Return to the Fold?” FPIF Policy Report, April 2004.

“The Details of Some Terror List Groups,” The Associated Press, Sept. 25, 2001.

“Interview with the Spokesperson for The Fighting Islamic Group in Libya - Brother Omar Rashed,” Nida’ul Islam, April/May 1999.

“Libya,” Q&A on Terrorism, Council on Foreign Relations, 2004.

“Libyan Political Prisoners Freed,” BBC News Online, Aug 30, 2002.

“Shayler Lawyer Fights for Legal Aid,” BBC News Online, Sept. 10, 1998.

John Walcott, “U.S. Officials Secretly Met Terror Suspect,” Knight-Ridder News Service, Oct. 21, 2001.

“The Worldwide Threat 2004:  Challenges in a Changing Global Context,” Testimony of Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Feb. 24, 2004.