Mahdi al-Harati

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Mahdi al-Harati (2011)

Mahdi al-Harati ( Arabic مهدي الحاراتي, DMG Mahdī al-Ḥ̣ārātī ; born 1972 or 1973) is an Islamist fighter of Irish nationality. He fought on the side of the rebels in the Libyan and Syrian civil wars , where he commanded the Liwaa al-Umma group .

Mahdi al-Harati is from Tripoli . As a youth he was persecuted under Muammar al-Gaddafi because relatives of his were opponents of the regime. He was tortured when he was 14 years old. In 1993 he went to Ireland. He lived in Dublin , where he taught Arabic, and is married to an Irish woman with whom he has four children. He was committed to the cause of the Palestinians and in 2010 took part in the “ Gaza Fleet ”, which was supposed to bring relief supplies to the Gaza Strip, bypassing the Israeli blockade. He was shot by Israeli soldiers.

In February 2011, al-Harati returned to Libya , where he fought on the side of the rebels in the civil war. He commanded the Tripoli Brigade, which was trained by French, US and Qatari special forces and which consisted mainly of Libyans abroad, particularly from Great Britain and Ireland. Under Abd al-Hakim Balhaj, he became Deputy Commander of the Tripoli Military Council. After the end of the civil war in Libya, he founded the Liwaa al-Umma in Syria. The group includes numerous non-Syrian fighters, but according to al-Harati it is mainly intended to train Syrian citizens in warfare against the government.

Al-Harati left Syria in October 2012. He had to undergo an operation on his spine in Libya.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Kim Bielenberg: The Irish family who took up arms to overthrow a despot. In: Irish Independent. August 27, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  2. ^ A b c Miles Amoore: Storming Tripoli. In: Sunday Times. August 28, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  3. ^ A b Mary Fitzgerald: The Syrian Rebels' Libyan Weapon. ( Memento of the original from June 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.foreignpolicy.com archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Foreign Policy. August 9, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  4. ↑ Asharq al-Awsat October 4, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Mahdi al-Harati
ALTERNATIVE NAMES مهدي الحاراتي (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Islamist fighter, leader of the Liwaa al-Umma
DATE OF BIRTH 1972 or 1973