Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), Fighting Islamic Group, Libyan Fighting Group, Libyan Islamic Group, Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya.

The LIFG is based in Libya, where it maintains a clandestine presence. A dedicated core is active in eastern Libya under the protection of tribal leaders. Many members have fled to other Middle Eastern and European countries.

The LIFG is committed to overthrowing the government of Col. Muammar Qaddafi, who is seen as un-Islamic, and for the establishment of a true Islamic government in his place. The group has begun to devote more attention to the international jihadist campaign.

The strength of the LIFG is unknown, though it is thought to have at least 100 active members and thousands of supporters. An estimated 300 members have been captured and convicted, according to the Libyan government.

The LIFG has been linked with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida network of terrorist groups. It also has links to Islamic extremist groups in Egypt and Algeria.

Some LIFG leaders were previously suspected of holding senior positions in Al-Qaida's leadership structure. The LIFG denounced Al-Qaida in 2009.

Funding for the group is believed to come from a variety of sources, including non-governmental organizations, individuals and criminal activities.

The LIFG emerged in Libya in 1995 in opposition to the Libyan government leadership. The group was mainly composed of veterans of the mujahedin wars against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Until April 1994, the Sunni Muslim LIFG was led by Abu Abdallah al-Sadeq, a Libyan citizen born in Tripoli. A student in engineering at Tripoli University, he went to Afghanistan in the late 1980s, where he was wounded. From there he returned to Libya, where he based himself in the eastern part of the country and personally supervised the organization of the group. In 1994, he oversaw the planning and execution of the failed assassination attempt on Qaddafi in Derna. Sadeq is wanted by the Libyan regime. He is also the head of the political bureau (al-Maktab al-Siyasi) of the group. Its role is to supervise the group's political activity, as well as the planning and execution of operations.

LIFG is ruled by a Majlis Shura (consultative committee). According to its charter, the Shura committee needs a group of seven people for its decisions to be legally binding. There have usually been up to 15 people in the Shura at any given point in time.

The group's internal judicial committee (al-Lajnah al-Shar'iyyah) is responsible for all judicial issues as well as for the education of the LIFG and training propagandist and religious scholars. The committee issues judicial writings.

The committee takes an interest in the “proper conduct” of Libyan society at large. As a result, it issues messages and articles criticizing tendencies deemed negative from an Islamist point of view. This committee is divided into three branches: research and study (Far' al-Dirasat wal-Buhuth); propaganda and guidance (Far' al-D’awah wal-Irshad); and judicial matters (Far' al-Ifta' wal-Qadha').

The information bureau is the third body within the LIFG. It publishes open letters to the Libyan people, calling on them to devote themselves to the Islamic faith. It also attempts to clarify the struggle between the Islamists and the Qaddafi regime.

The LIFG is committed to overthrowing the Libyan government and replacing it with one modeled on Islamic sharia law. Its rhetoric and recruiting is directed at the Libyan sense of nationalism and Islamic identity. The group claims that Western values and despotic Arab regimes such as Qaddafi's undermine Islamic values and oppress the Muslim world. The LIFG sees the U.S. as an enemy and supports jihadist groups around the globe.

Qaddafi cracked down on the LIFG following its attempt to assassinate him in 1996. The group was believed to be almost totally eliminated by 2001, but Washington remained concerned about the group, freezing LIFG assets in September 2001 and later added it to the State Dept.'s list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The LIFG joined Al-Qaida in late 2007, according to Al-Qaida leaders. Some analysts believe a split has since emerged between LIFG factions that want to negotiate peace with the government and those that support continued extremism under Al-Qaida.

Over the last few years, LIFG has been largely dormant. The Libyan government has over time apprehended several hundred members of the group. In 2009, Tripoli started to release a significant number of those prisoners who renounced violence. The government also instituted a policy of re-integrating former LIFG members into society.

May 18: The LIFG published a short declaration about a Koran that was allegedly defiled in the American detainee camp in Guantanamo, Cuba.

October: The British Home Office banned the LIFG along with 14 other terrorist groups from operating in the U.K. Under the U.K.’s Terrorism Act 2000, being a member of the LIFG is punishable by 10 years in prison.

May 24: More than 500 British intelligence and security officers conducted raids on the homes of alleged terrorists throughout England. British authorities claimed that seven of those individuals arrested were planning terrorist attacks outside the U.K. and inside Iraq. British officials said those arrested were members of LIFG.

October/November: The LIFG officially joined Al-Qaida, according to a video posted online by Al-Qaida second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri. Senior Al-Qaida and LIFG member Abu Laith al-Libi also appeared in the video, urging group members to "prepare for a new round of the battles of Islam" targeting Qaddafi loyalists, Americans and the West in general.

April 8: The Libyan government released 90 LIFG convicts from prison, about a third of the total in detention. The LIFG members renounced violence to gain their release. They were serving sentences ranging from 10 years to life. The Qaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations, an organization supported by the government and directed by Sayf al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of the president, mediated the release.

Oct. 21: The U.N. Security Council added three persons associated with LIFG to its list of individuals subject to travel bans and asset freezes: Maftah Mohamed Elmabruk, a British resident involved in fundraising on behalf of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group; Abdelrazag Elsharif Elosta, for fundraising activities on behalf of LIFG; and Abduul Basit Abdul Rahim. The U.S. Treasury also put all three on its list of persons associated with terrorist activities.