OnIslam.net

CAIRO – Hiding for years from tyrant Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, members of Islamic groups are coming to light from their forced exile as real patriots to map out freedom fighters’ strategy against the current authoritarian rule.

“We are part of the Libyan people and we just want to help our country,” Abu Sohaib, not his real name, a senior commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, told the New York Times on Tuesday, July 19.

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group was formed in 1995 with the goal of ousting Colonel Qaddafi.

Daring to protest against Gaddafi in the 1990s, members of the Islamic group were captured and died in Abu Salim prison in Tripoli.

Ever since, they hid from Qaddafi security forces in the caves in Darnah until the Libyan revolution, giving them opportunity to come out to be celebrated as patriots.  

Exiled for years in London away from his homeland, Abu Sohaib and a dozen or so former commanders make up a rear-guard headquarters for revolution fighters.

Some of those commanders even shuttle between London and Benghazi to strategize and share donations collected from the Libyan expatriate community in Britain.

Yet, Abu Sohaib, banned from Libya and its neighbors, could not join those shuttle missions to his home country.

He spends most of his time online to keep in contact with friends on the ground there and follow Libya news.

“I would like to be there myself; I tried to go,” he said, pausing to look at the car keys in front of him.

“But Tunisia and Egypt wouldn’t let me in even after their revolution.”

Scrambled to save his 42-year regime, Gaddafi has launched a deadly crackdown on protestors who demand an end to his rule of the oil-rich Arab country.

Estimates say that at least 10,000 people have been killed in the bloody crackdown.

Five months into the revolt against his rule, Gaddafi is still holding doggedly onto power despite weeks of NATO strikes on his military and command structures.

The conflict has now reached a stalemate, with Gaddafi in control of most of the west of the country, while the opposition is hemmed in to their stronghold in the east and a few pockets in the west.

Distrust

Driven into the mountains or exile by Libyan security forces, the group’s members were among the first to join the fight against Qaddafi security forces.

“We wanted to live in a country in which we can live and promote Islam the way it should be,” said Abu Sohaib.

“We are sure Islam is good for everyone.”

A soft-spoken man in his mid-40s, Abu Sohaib recalls times when Britain wanted to hand him over to Gaddafi.

“There was a time when the British wanted to hand us over to Muammar el-Qaddafi, though they knew we would be tortured,” he said, staring at his hands.

Though cooperating with them, American intelligence officials are still worried about members of the group, who received training in Pakistan tribal region.

Abu Sohaib insists that he and his brethren have severed ties with Al Qaeda and have warned the terrorist group it is not welcome in Libya.

“It has been made very clear to them, that it is better for them to stay out of the country,” he said.

That distrust was shared by Libyan fighters, who still question the motive behind the NATO operation into Libya.

“We start to question the true intentions of the West in Libya,” a 36-year-old Libyan associated with the fighting group who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Salah and who travels between Europe and Libya said.

“If they would have wanted to kill Muammar el-Qaddafi, they could have done it several times,” Abu Salah added.

“I guess this is about making as much money with oil and weapons deals as possible.”

Abu Sohaib recalls the cooperation between the US and Libyan authorities to combat terrorism after Libya disbanded its unconventional weapons program in 2003.

“Isn’t it interesting how they were hunting us for years and were working with Muammar el-Qaddafi?” said

“Now we are cooperating with NATO and the West, those who used to put us in jail.”