I need to correct a portion of this post of mine. I cited a report that Abdel-Hakim Belhaj had become an ISIS commander. This is an allegation, not a known fact. There are, in fact, multiple reports but they are not all independent. For example, one report that I did not cite is this one by a Fox reporter. She reports an allegation that Abdel-Hakim Belhaj had become an ISIS commander but she provides no source.

So far, I haven’t been able to pin down support for this allegation. I have found quite a strong piece that totally contradicts this allegation. It is an interview with Belhaj in Italian dated Feb. 20, 2016, whereas the allegations go back to early 2015. In this interview, Belhaj comes out against Daesh. “We are the ones in Libya that we have to fight the IS. Do not know when there will be a government, there are still many problems. But I know one thing: in the meantime, we the people of Libya, from Tripoli to Misurata, we will have to fight IS. We are ready to do it.” He is also quoted as saying “The Daesh is a danger, is taking root in Derna and Sirte. We talked to the General National Congress in Tripoli from Zwara, from Tripoli to Misurata are the militias and the forces needed to combat Daesh, we need support logistics necessary but we can do it. we can no longer wait for a government that does not exist yet. The Daesh has already hit in Tunis, in Paris. For this we have extended an invitation to the Libyan mobilization”.

From the view of U.S. policy and Western insertion of forces into Libya again, Belhaj warns against this:

“But it is we who must fight Daesh. A European intervention would be branded as a new action of ‘crusaders’ against Islam, and the same followers of Gaddafi would use this type of propaganda to recruit new supporters. Annihilate these criminals is the responsibility of international community, but we do ourselves Libyans these surgical operations. Put us in a position to do so.”

Belhaj headed the LIFG (Libyan Islamic Fighting Group) whose aim as far back as the 1990s was to overthrow Gaddafi. There were several assassination attempts, one linked to funding by British intelligence (MI6), which LIFG denied. Gaddafi pressured LIFG intensely and jailed many members, also bombing their camps and driving many out of Libya and into Afghanistan and the Taliban.

In 2009-2010, Gaddafi freed over 300 Islamic prisoners. Belhaj led a two-year negotiation that got him and others released from prison. They recanted and produced a long document, parts of which appear here in translation. In this 400-page document they renounce the “use of violence to change political situations.” However, the scholarly translator’s preface carefully points out that the document fails to address critical points in the Muslim religion, thereby allowing room for the resuscitation of violence under certain conditions or loopholes.

A further sample of LIFG history, dated May 2012, may be found here. We are told that “In the West, Abdal-Hakim Belhaj – currently the commander of the Tripoli Military Council (TMC) – spearheaded the attack on Qadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound.” The recantation didn’t last long once a renewed opportunity to remove Gaddafi arose.

What is Belhaj’s direction? Is it toward non-violent politics and ideological clarification and moderation of his Islamism? Is he one of the long-sought after moderate Islamists to which U.S. policy refers as it seeks to remake governments in the region? Does he ally to violent jihadists only when it suits him? Are his denials of links to violent jihadist groups for political purposes only? What is the evidence that he has allied with ISIS? What confirmation do we have that he’s anti-ISIS as the Italian interview indicates?

There are more questions than there are answers.

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