Mahmoud bin Rajab: Brotherhood candidate to lead Libyan National Guard

Amira al-Sherif

At a time when Turkey is seeking to impose its control and hegemony in Libya and its desperate attempts to install its hidden arms in Tripoli, the Libyan Brotherhood, backed by Turkey and loyal to the Fayez al-Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA), nominated the terrorist Mahmoud bin Rajab, a leader in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), to head the Libyan National Guard.

The Brotherhood promoted the idea of ​​a national guard through its political arm, the Justice and Construction Party (JCP). After the 2014 Libya Dawn war and the coup against the elected parliament, a group of remnants of the National Congress, represented by the Brotherhood and extremists, issued the National Guard Law in 2015 regarding a political body whose legitimacy had expired.

At the same time, Turkey is trying to impose its dangerous terrorist candidate, LIFG military commander Khalid al-Sharif, who is loyal to al-Qaeda, to take over the intelligence leadership in the Sarraj government. The Brotherhood is strongly pushing for Bin Rajab’s appointment to head the Libyan National Guard at the GNA Ministry of Interior.

Turkey, in cooperation with the Brotherhood, is trying to give terrorists new roles in the North African country, with the aim of implementing their agenda in full support of terrorist groups.

Mahmoud bin Rajab, whose nickname is Abu Qatada, hails from the terrorist group led by Abu Ubaidah al-Zawi. He is wanted internationally on charges of involvement in terrorist operations and is considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in Libya. However, he also works as a first lieutenant in the GNA Interior Ministry and is a field commander of an armed militia in the city of Zawiya.

Bin Rajab is considered the primary person responsible for the kidnapping of Egyptian diplomats in Libya in 2014, when he participated in this operation in response to Zawi’s arrest in Alexandria.

He also worked as a field commander for an armed group affiliated with Operation Libya Dawn and participated in the fighting in the area of Warshefana, where he carried out assassinations and burned and destroyed homes. He also participated in the battle for Tripoli International Airport.

In June 2017, Saudi authorities arrested Bin Rajab, along with Mohammed Hussein Al-Khadrawi and Hassan Zayat, while performing the Umrah rituals, due to his links to terrorism and ISIS.

The three are members of the Libyan militia in Zawiya and close to Zawi, who is responsible for the Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room in the country’s Western Region.

Likewise, Bin Rajab has a strong relationship with LIFG leader Abdelhakim Belhaj, a terrorist and warlord residing in Turkey. They share an extremist upbringing and combat experience, as well as their dark history full of crimes and abuses in Libya.

Bin Rajab also supported the terrorist Benghazi Liberation Brigades and its elements fleeing to the Western Region.

At the beginning of the year, the GNA began promoting the establishment of a national guard after the dismantling of the armed militias, amid great controversy over the goals of this project and fears that it would represent a legal cover for armed militias and terrorist groups, as well as a tool in Turkey’s hand to strengthen its military presence in Libya and its control over Libya’s security institutions, especially after the circulation of videos of Syrian mercenaries receiving military training and talking about the existence of a plan to integrate them into Libya’s official security and military services.

The Islamic Movements Portal stated in a previous report that the Brotherhood’s terrorist vision of integrating armed militias constitutes the nucleus for establishing a Revolutionary Guard in Libya and the emergence of more than one military body, while threatening the Libyan state’s stability and securing the interests of the Brotherhood, Qatar and Turkey.

Observers have warned that the Brotherhood’s vision regarding the transitional phase, the militias and the Libyan National Guard maintains political and security instability in the country and makes the Libyan state and its institutions prey to the Brotherhood’s ambitions and terrorism.

The Turkish-backed GNA is witnessing a state of division between its wings due to conflicts and internal weakness, which the Brotherhood is exploiting to control its military joints.

Despite the GNA’s attempts to appear internally cohesive, evidence of the contrary could be witnessed when GNA Presidential Council Vice Chairman Ahmed Maiteeq requested the military prosecutor to take action against Major General Abdul Basit Marwan, one of the most prominent GNA military leaders.

Sarraj’s loyal Tripoli Protection Force also launched an attack against the Libyan Brotherhood, describing them as a tumor in the country corrupting the land and penetrating the joints of the state in order to destroy it.

The Tripoli Protection Force added that the Libyan Brotherhood is a lost group and continues to sabotage and fabricate crises to stifle the homeland and citizens and to stir up strife for the benefit of their Turkish backers at the expense of the Libyan people.