The same man who is now firmly aligned with ISIS and held responsible for training camps in eastern Libya.
His story is very particular. Escape from Libya in the 1988 through Saudi Arabia and receive military training among the Mujahideen. He returns to Libya in the 1992 as Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq and organizes three failed rais attacks.
Forced to leave the country in the 1998, he returns to Afghanistan where cove joins the Taliban.
In the 2002, the Libyan government issues an arrest warrant for Belhadj. The man is found guilty "of having established relationships with the leaders of Al-Qaeda and in particular with the Taliban leader Mullah Omar. In Jalalabad he would have run and funded training camps for the mujaheddin. "His links with the CIA and the British secret services remain a mystery.
In the 2004, after a tip from MI6, Belhadj and his pregnant wife are arrested at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia. The CIA keeps them prisoners in a secret base in Bangkok (where the man is interrogated), before delivering them to the Gaddafi government.
The former Rais locked him up in Abu Selim prison for almost seven years. Belhadj receives grace in the 2010, as an attempt by the Gaddafi regime to reconnect with local Islamists. Even fundamentalist 170 is released with him.
In the 2011, Belhadj stands against Gaddafi as leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, alongside the United States and NATO. In December of the same year, Belhajd began the process of legal proceedings against the British government for the role it had in his arrest in Malaysia.
Although Belhadj's ties to Al-Qaeda were known, he was appointed head of the Tripoli Military Council, a position he held until his resignation in May 2012. And that Belhadj was a ruthless terrorist, there is little doubt. His file talks about numerous terrorist operations around the world, including the 2004 bombing of Madrid trains and the murder of two Tunisian politicians of the Muslim Brotherhood.
With the recruitment of former moderate rebel Belhadj and his three thousand fighters, the Islamic State would have strengthened its position in Libya.
The Caliphate would be receiving "concrete help" from the training camps in a new base of support near the port city of Derna, in the eastern part of the country.
Is my enemy's enemy my enemy?
General Qasem Suleimani: defined as a terrorist by the US government and held responsible for twenty percent of American casualties in the war in Iraq.
The commander from the Quds Force, Iran's special department, joined the Iraqi cause against ISIS.
The photographs circulating on social media show Suleimani alongside senior Iraqi officials in the Tikrit area, Saddam Hussein's Sunni home that is almost equidistant between Mosul, an ISIS-controlled city that is 120 kilometers north and Baghdad, the government's capital to 100 miles south.
Suleimani's presence at the forefront of recovering Tikrit from ISIS control highlights Iran's growing influence on the central Iraqi government and the fundamental role of the Shiite militiamen, under the Quds command, in the Iraqi struggle against the Islamic state.
Among the Western concerns, the specter of a new and terrifying ethnic cleansing should ISIS militiamen surrender or lose Tikrit, which currently should be the scene of fierce fighting.
Among the advancing forces, two-thirds are believed to be Shiite militiamen loyal to Iran, with the rest belonging to Iraqi security forces. The Pentagon fears that Shiite troops can avenge the massacre carried out by the ISIS of 1700 Iraqi soldiers, almost all Shiites, which took place last June.
According to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, "the involvement of the Quds Force in the conflict against ISIS is a reflection of a broader trend in Iranian society: its slow transformation from a radical Islamic theocracy into a military dictatorship. It is an organization that is committed to spreading systematic terror in Iraq. And now, this force has been welcomed by the Iraqi government with open arms.
In other words, we have a terrorist organization that is helping the Iraqi government get rid of another terrorist organization. "
This concept was also reiterated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who, last Tuesday, during a joint meeting of the Congress stated: "When we talk about Iran and Isis, your enemy's enemy is your enemy"
Franco Iacch
