Abdel Hakim Belhaj
| Abdelhakim Belhaj | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1 May 1966 Souq al Jum'aa, Tripoli, Libya |
| Allegiance |
 Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (1995–2000s) National Transitional Council (2011–2012) |
| Service/branch |
 National Liberation Army
|
| Commands held | Leader of the al-Watan Party and former head of Tripoli Military Council |
| Battles/wars |
Afghan Civil War Libyan Civil War |
| Spouse(s) | Fatima Boudchar |
Abdelhakim Belhaj (Arabic: عبد الحكيم بالحاج, nom de guerre: Abu Abdallah Assadaq) (born 1 May 1966) is a Libyan politician and military leader. He is the leader of the conservative Islamist al-Watan Party and former head of Tripoli Military Council. He was the emir of the defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an anti-Gaddafi guerrilla group.
Born on 1 May 1966 in the Souq al Jum'aa area of Tripoli, Belhaj studied at Al Fateh University, where he earned a civil engineering degree. During the years after his studying, he is said to have travelled extensively, spending time in Sudan, Turkey, Pakistan, Syria, as well as London and Denmark.
Wanting to rid Libya of Colonel Gaddafi, Belhaj joined other young Islamists who formed a group, but were chased from the country before they could achieve anything. Leaving the country via Saudi Arabia he arrived in Afghanistan, in 1988, and became an Islamist fighter in the Soviet-Afghan war.
In 1992, after the Mujahideen took Kabul, he travelled across the Middle East and Eastern Europe, before returning to Libya in 1992. There he and others formed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which tried to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi from 1994 onwards. Belhadj was known during this period as Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq, and was part of the LIFG that fought an insurgency campaign based from eastern Libya. But after three unsuccessful assassination attempts on Gaddafi, the LIFG was crushed in 1998.
Belhadj and other leaders of the LIFG fled to Afghanistan, and joined the Taliban. Some of the former guerrilla fighters joined the al-Qaeda ranks and contributed to the growth of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Several LIFG fighters also held prominent positions within al-Qaeda’s leadership.
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Wikipedia