If you have ever been puzzled as to whether the former name of the Islamic State group (IS) was ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) or ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), your confusion may soon be over: ISIL seems to have staged a dramatic comeback; ISIL, that is, Islamic State in Inflammable Libya.
Over the past year, the world’s attention has been focused on the speedy advance of IS into huge areas of Syria and Iraq. The world has been particularly riveted by the sheer barbarism of the subsequent mass murders, acts of rape, and beheadings, all carried out clinically and systematically by that organization. To begin with, IS had consciously made use of its skillful social media techniques in order to terrorize its opponents and attract like-minded fanatics. More recently, however, IS appears to have employed those various methods with the main purpose of distracting the world’s attention from a more sinister and insidious aim: to establish a firm foothold in other parts of the Middle East. This has now become increasingly important for that organization in view of its latest setbacks in Iraq and Syria; hence the unexpected beheadings of (non-Western, non-Middle Eastern) Japanese hostages and the burning to death of a Jordanian pilot. For IS, Libya now looks like a prize to be won, especially if that group proves unable to flourish in Syria or Iraq.
Libya has been caught up in a maelstrom of violence ever since the overthrow of Qaddafi’s regime. Like those of most other Arab Spring Middle Eastern countries, Libya’s uprising had broken out without a prior compass that could have helped Libyans establish a lawful state. Coupled with Qaddafi’s systematic destruction of political, administrative, and legal institutions over a period of four decades, that country subsequently witnessed the emergence of a huge power vacuum once the old regime had collapsed. The resulting void was filled in by a mixture of mostly theocratic Islamists and largely secular pan-Arabists. The two sides have since been engaged in a bloody internecine conflict which has wreaked havoc on Libya and its inhabitants. The Islamist vs. pan-Arabist clash has also been tragically aggravated by other divisive factors within Libya itself, such as regionalism and tribalism. In other words, Libya’s disintegration is not only political, economic, and ideological; it is also social and cultural.
The unraveling at the seams of a Middle Eastern country furnishes a golden opportunity for the likes of IS. That is why it is strong in Syria, Iraq, and now, increasingly, in Libya. By contrast, IS is effectively toothless in Tunisia, which is the only successful Arab Spring country; it is perhaps this particular element that may explain the reason why Tunisia has contributed more than any other country in the region to the ranks of IS in both Iraq and Syria, i.e. that those religious fanatics were unable to blossom in Tunisia’s relatively secular, tolerant soil. Libya, however, is another kettle of fish; its current chaotic situation appears considerably conducive to the rise and success of ruthless religious bigots. IS achieved its first Libyan success in the eastern city of Derna, a city which had earlier supplied more fighters to Al-Qaeda in Iraq than any other Libyan city. Slowly but surely, IS has since been expanding into other parts of Libya and has consequently been implicated in numerous acts of terror that included beheadings, explosions, suicide bombings, executions, and kidnappings. IS’s adherents in Libya seem to have been greatly boosted by the return to that country of individuals who had fought in Syria and Iraq and who had, thereby, acquired valuable training, weaponry, and ideological indoctrination.
All of those aforementioned developments had been gaining momentum while the rest of the world, most notably the United States, was fast asleep. More recently, there has been increasing alarm in Europe over the presence of IS in Libya, particularly in view of that country’s geographical proximity to southern European countries. By contrast, the US has still not latched on to the nature of IS’s menacing threat in Derna, Sirte, and even Tripoli and Benghazi. The rationale for America’s nonchalance appears to be that the threat posed by IS in Libya is exaggerated, especially by people who want Western countries to intervene in Libya in order to save it from collapse; that Libyans have never been ardent supporters of IS or its original root, Al-Qaeda; that it is not easy to distinguish between IS’s activities and supporters and those of other Islamist groups in the country; and that IS in Libya does not pose any immediate or direct threat to vital US interests.
The above-mentioned US stance on IS’s growing strength in Libya is very unfortunate indeed; it is a patently clear manifestation of the current US administration’s two major foreign policy weaknesses: a lack of vision and a dearth of resolve. It is the old “junior varsity basketball players” revisited.
About the author
Husam Dughman comes from a family that is historically descended from Europeans on his father’s side and Middle Easterners on his mother’s side. He was born in Libya and educated in Libya and the United Kingdom. Before Qaddafi came to power, Husam Dughman’s father had been the president of the University of Libya and his maternal grandfather had been a prime minister. Immediately following Qaddafi’s military coup d’état in 1969, both stood up to the Qaddafi regime and were consequently imprisoned: Husam Dughman’s father was incarcerated for a period of 10 years, during which he was subjected to regular torture by the Qaddafi regime, and his grandfather was incarcerated for five years.
In the 1990s, Husam Dughman returned to Libya and worked as a university professor of political science. Due to conflicts with the Qaddafi regime, he resigned from his university position in 1997 and subsequently worked in legal translation. Years later, Husam Dughman left Libya for North America, where he has been working as a Newcomer specialist, helping new immigrants with their settlement. He currently resides in the United States.
Husam Dughman has recently published a book, Tête-à-tête with Muhammad, and he has also published various articles about the Middle East. You can find out more by visiting his website at http://www.husamdughman.com