SUMMARY
ASL (Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, or the “Supporters of Islamic Law in Libya”) was an Islamist militia group active in Libya. In the aftermath of the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi, Libya was in a state of disarray as its national security forces were in shambles. This led to a proliferation of a multitude of regional and local armed groups, some of which had an outspoken hardline Islamist or jihadist outlook; it was in this context that ASL emerged. The group’s primary goal was to establish a state governed by Islamic law (Sharia) in Libya, and to abolish the laws and institutions that did not abide by its interpretation of Islamic governance. ASL’s ideology was dominated by the idea of pure monotheism (tawhid), and that any Muslim not following the literal authority of God should be branded as an “unbeliever” (kafir). As a result, the group was entirely opposed to any forms of secularism or democracy, which both were seen as representations of infidelity. ASL exhibited a particular aversion towards democracy, which was seen as wholly incompatible with traditional Islamic governance (shura). The group claimed that the democratic principle of ruling on behalf of the people directly violated the principle of ruling according to the will of God. ASL claimed that also Islamic parties were harmful to a “true” Islamic society, as they endorsed the principle of democratic pluralism.
ASL was created following the merger of Katibat Ansar al-Shariah in Benghazi (ASB) and Ansar al-Shariah in Derna (ASD) at some point during 2011; both the ASB and ASD had in turn been created during the uprising that led to the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The group was initially called just “Ansar al-Sharia”, but changed its name to ASL in October 2012 in order to distinguish itself from a similarly named group in Tunisia. ASL became known to the wider audience in September 2012, when it was accused of participating in an attack against the United States’ consulate in Benghazi, in which the US ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed; ASL did however deny any responsibility for the attack. Following the attack on the consulate, intense popular protests forced ASL to leave its main stronghold in Benghazi in 2012; ASL’s Derna-branch temporarily disbanded itself following the attack, and did not reemerge until late 2013.
For the first years of its existence, the ASL downplayed the role of military jihad in achieving the establishment of an Islamic state. Instead, the group put considerable effort and resources into providing social services, activities traditionally referred to as “dawa”. ASL’s dawa activities were not limited to towns and cities in Libya, but the group also provided aid to victims of conflict and natural disasters in Syria, Gaza, and Sudan. Followings its loss of public support in the aftermath of the attack on the US consulate, the group gradually reestablished itself in Benghazi in the spring of 2013, resuming its dawa activities. However, ASL’s ideology was gradually radicalized towards the idea that the preferred strategy to remove unbelievers and establish pure monotheism was military jihad; the group maintained that waging military jihad was a basic criterion of being a true Muslim. ASL’s dawa activities ceased when a conflict with the LNA started in May 2014; after this, the group evolved into a primarily militant organization.
Until its merger into the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council in 2014, ASL was headed by Emir Mohammad al-Zahawi, who had led the group since its creation in 2011. Al-Zahawi also served as the leader of the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council until his death in January 2015. Another important ASL leader was Abu Sufyan bin Qumu, who commanded the group’s Derna-branch. Qumu was a former inmate of the Guantanamo Bay internment camp, and a veteran fighter from Afghanistan where he fought with al-Qaida and the Taleban; he had also been the driver of Osama bin Laden.
The exact cadre strength of ASL was not known, with low estimates putting the total number in the low hundreds in 2012, while some estimates say around 5000 at the group’s peak strength in 2014 and 2015. One of ASL’s primary sources of income was remittances from Libyans residing abroad, primarily in the form of funds intended to support the group’s dawa activities. Aside from its main stronghold in Benghazi, ASL also kept active branches in Derna, Sirte, and Ajdabiya. For example, ASL’s Sirte-branch was established in June 2013, as Katibat al-Farouq – a militant group originally formed in Misrata in 2011 – and the local Supreme Security Committee (SSC) decided to join the group. The Sirte-branch was led by Ahmad Ali al-Tayyar. In December 2014, the Derna-branch of ASL, together with the Abu Salim Martyrs Brigade and the Jaysh al-Islami al-Libi militia, created an umbrella organization called the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council. ASL cadres from the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council also partook in the creation of the Ajdabiya Revolutionaries Shura Council in March 2015.
While most sources agree that ASL maintained a cordial relationship with al-Qaida, it never formally pledged allegiance to its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. It was however likely that ASL was inspired by al-Zawahiri’s focus on dawa as a vital supplement to a modern jihadi movement; ASL was known for making statements in support of al-Qaida’s activities. ASL also maintained several training camps, where it would train fighters from other groups. For example, it provided fighters to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, one of the groups involved in the conflict in Syria going on at the time. ASL as a whole also refused to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), despite vigorous attempts by the latter to facilitate a merger of the two groups. However, most of ASL’s Sirte branch chose to defect from the group and pledge allegiance to IS in early 2015. Furthermore, there were also individual ASL leaders and cadre members that chose to defect to IS; a notable example was a top commander called Abu Abdullah al Libi. For a brief period in 2013 and 2014, it was believed that the Government of Libya provided financial compensation to the ASL in return for providing security and combating illicit trade activities in Benghazi; this was however never confirmed.
On 20 June 2014, ASL together with the Rafallah al-Sahati Brigade and the February 17 Martyrs Brigade, as well as several other groups, created the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, an umbrella organization intended to fight against the LNA. After this date, ASL ceased to exist as an independent actor in the UCDP data. The group continued to fight under the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council umbrella until 28 May 2017, when ASL was formally disbanded.
