Ammunition crates, now empty in the wake of recent heavy fighting, are stacked outside the military barracks at the Tripoli airport. One of the victors, wearing military fatigues, is sitting in a luxurious leather armchair inside the building. He presses his combat boots into the thick carpet, his facial features as rigid as if they had been sculpted. The man speaks intently. He wants to make sure that each of his sentences is recorded on video, and that nothing is misunderstood.
For years, American and British intelligence agencies hunted Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the commander of the Libyan rebels' Tripoli brigade, believing him to be a terrorist and ally of then al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. They also reportedly had him abducted, which led to his being tortured with syringes and ice-cold water. Now though, the West and many in Libya are paying close attention, and are listening to his every word.
"In reality, our group had nothing to do with al-Qaida at the time," says Belhaj, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and the former head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which, persecuted by the regime of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, took refuge in Afghanistan for years. Belhaj, the battle-hardened Islamist, is now the commander of all rebel troops in the Libyan capital.
His men drive around in their pickups, outfitted with automatic weapons while the civilian heads of the rebellion seek to map out a path for their country's future. Belhaj says that the power lies "in the hands of the Libyan people," and that Libyans can now decide democratically how they wish to live their lives. "We want a secular country," he adds. But many Libyans don't believe a word the Islamist is saying. » | Clemens Höges and Thilo Thielke | Wednesday, September 28, 2011
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