Gaddafi loyalism
Despite Muammar Gaddafi's death, his legacy and Jamahiriya ideology still maintains a popular appeal both inside and outside Libya into the present day.
[4] Derisively called tahloob ("algae") by anti-Gaddafi Libyans,[5] suspected loyalists have faced strong persecution following the war.
The Libyan Popular National Movement was organised in exile on 15 February 2012 (the first anniversary of the protests that led to the civil war) by former officials in the Gaddafi government.
Statements from the party sometimes appear on websites affiliated with the so-called "Green Resistance" (after the sole colour of Gaddafi's flag), a term sometimes used by sympathisers to refer to supposed pro-Gaddafi militant groups.
[10][11] Bani Walid, Ghat, Al Ajaylat, Brak, and Sirte are cities with large amounts of Gaddafi loyalism present.
Third International Theory is a Left-Wing political movement which has elements of Arab nationalism, Nasserism,[16] Anti-imperialism, socialism, Pan-Arabism,[17] and principles of direct democracy.
Shortly before his capture, Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam appeared on Syrian pro-Gaddafi television on 22 October in an attempt to rally remaining loyalists claiming "I am in Libya, I am alive and free and willing to fight to the end and take revenge.
[20][21] On 19 November, Saif al-Islam and four loyalist fighters were captured west of the town of Ubari near Sabha in southern Libya.
[22] A nomad who had been hired to guide them in their planned escape to Niger secretly told government forces where Saif al-Islam and his two-vehicle convoy would be passing through.
[23] On 23 November, clashes erupted as a National Transitional Council militia tried to apprehend a suspected loyalist in Bani Walid, which was one of the last pro-Gaddafi strongholds in the civil war.
[26] A third version of the events came from the government Interior Ministry which stated that the trouble started when a Zuwara hunting party close to nearby al-Jumail shot and killed a person from that town by mistake.
[38] The Mashashya tribe chose to side with the Gaddafi government, whilst fighters from Zintan played a prominent role, fighting in favour of the NTC.
[5] A member of the group in Tripoli's Abu Salim neighbourhood, a former pro-Gaddafi stronghold, claimed in an August 2012 interview that loyalist militia were rebuilding their strength and waiting for the right moment to move against the new government.
[5] In addition to his son Saadi, Muammar Gaddafi's nephew Ahmad Gaddaf al-Damm, living in hiding in Egypt, was also accused of supporting violent pro-Gaddafi activity.
Tripoli's head of security, Col. Mahmoud Sherif, blamed Gaddafi loyalists for the attack, and the following day Libyan authorities announced they had arrested 32 members of a pro-Gaddafi network in connection with the bombings.
[25] On 23 August, Interior ministry spokesman Abdelmonem al-Hur claimed that more than a hundred tanks and twenty-six rocket launchers were seized from an alleged pro-Gaddafi militia (named Katibat Al-Awfiyah, or Brigade of the Faithful), during a government raid on their campsite in Tarhuna.
[citation needed] The government also declared a state of emergency after Gaddafi loyalists took over the Tamahind air force base near the southern city of Sabha.
The interviewed Libyans claimed to be fighting against a Western-backed "puppet government" with ties to Al-Qaeda, and charged that Qatar was paying Sudanese pilots to bomb their positions.
[citation needed] On the other hand, the more government-friendly Libya Herald newspaper reported that a large contingent of Gaddafi-friendly fighters were scattered near Ajilat as they tried to aid other Gaddafi-loyalists in Sabha, with five of them killed.
[54] Continuous fighting was also alleged to have erupted between pockets of pro-Gaddafi militants and ISIL forces in Gaddafi's former hometown of Sirte.
[58] On 5 May, Gaddafi loyalists along with soldiers loyal to Khalifa Haftar captured the town of Zella after an intense battle with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Libya fighters near Sirte.
[61][62] On May 20, a delegation of Gaddafi exiled supporters comprising three former high-ranking military officials, three activists and a university professor that have being invited to a reconciliation meeting in Tripoli were detained on charges of planning violent acts to destabilize the capital.
[63] On September 1, shy celebrations marking the 49th anniversary of Al Fateh Revolution spread over several cities including Sabha, Sirte, Benghazi and Tripoli suburbs.
[67] On September 1, Gaddafi supporters celebrated the 51st anniversary of the Al Fateh Revolution taking to the streets of several towns like Ajaylat, Tiji (Al-Sayan), Bani Walid and Sabha.
[71][72] In 2022 and 2023, ahead of those years' celebrations for the Al Fateh Revolution, forces under the command of Khalifa Haftar began a campaign of arrests against Gaddafi supporters in Sirte.
