Zawahiri’s Man in Libya

Thomas Joscelyn:

Twin raids in Libya and Somalia this weekend demonstrate that America’s fight against al Qaeda continues in jihadist hotspots around the globe. And the raid in Libya shows, once again, that al Qaeda’s “core” members are pushing the terrorist organization’s agenda far from Pakistan.

In Tripoli, a long wanted al Qaeda terrorist who helped plan the August 7, 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania was captured by American forces. The senior al Qaeda leader, known as Abu Anas al Libi, has served al Qaeda’s most senior leaders since the 1990s.

Much of the press’s reporting on al Libi has focused on his terrorist acts prior to 9/11. But al Libi’s role became a major concern once again after the revolution that swept Muammar Qaddafi from power.

In August 2012, the research division of the Library of Congress and the Defense Department’s Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO) released a report (“Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile”) detailing al Qaeda’s plan for Qaddafi’s former country.

Abu Anas al Libi was identified as a key player in this plan.

AQSL has “issued strategic guidance to followers in Libya and elsewhere to take advantage of the Libyan rebellion,” the report reads. AQSL ordered its followers to “gather weapons,” “establish training camps,” “build a network in secret,” “establish an Islamic state,” and “institute sharia” law in Libya.

Al Libi is described in the report as the “builder of al Qaeda’s network in Libya.” He served as the key liaison between AQSL and others inside Libya.

Al Libi is “most likely involved in al Qaeda strategic planning and coordination between AQSL and Libyan Islamist militias who adhere to al Qaeda’s ideology,” the report notes.

“Reporting indicates that intense communications from AQSL are conducted through Abu Anas al Libi, who is believed to be an intermediary between [Ayman al] Zawahiri and jihadists in Libya,” the report’s authors found.

The public discourse, especially in the U.S., is often focused on al Qaeda’s immediate threat to Western interests. This is, in many ways, understandable. But al Libi’s role went far beyond the targeting of American embassies or other Western interests.

The authors of “Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile” identified key personalities and al Qaeda-linked militias, including Ansar al Sharia, which are working to acquire territory. In Benghazi, the scene of a terrorist attack that killed four Americans on September 11, 2012, Ansar al Sharia is firmly entrenched. The group even controls security checkpoints. Elsewhere in Libya the situation is much the same. In Sirte and Derna, for example, Ansar al Sharia and its al Qaeda-linked allies have become dominant players.

In other words, there are good reasons to think that the plan AQSL set in motion for Libya is coming to fruition. And there are also good reasons to suspect that Anas al Libi, Zawahiri’s man in Tripoli, helped oversee the operation.

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