Katiba al-Bittar al-Libi

Katiba al-Bittar al-Libi
Participant in the Syrian Civil War
Active	2012-Present
Ideology	Islamism Salafi Jihadism
Groups	Islamic Youth Shura Council
Leaders	Abdelhamid Abaaoud †[1] Abu Dujana Al-Libi †
Headquarters	Derna, Libya (2014-2016)
Area of operations	Syria, Iraq, and Libya
Size	350-1400
Part of	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Since 2014)
Allies	Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia Green Battalion Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Joined in June 2014) Al-Nusra Front (Until 2014)
Opponents	Syria  Iraq  Libya  EU Hezbollah Free Syrian Army Authenticity and Development Front Islamic Front Al-Nusra Front (Since 2014)
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Battle of Qalamoun Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War[2] Battle of Markada Libyan Civil War (2014–present) Derna campaign (2014–16) Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017) International military intervention against ISIL Islamic terrorism in Europe (2014–present)[3]

Katiba al-Bittar al-Libi is an armed Islamist group operating in Iraq, Syria and Libya. The group is composed largely of Libyan fighters who entered Syria in the wake of the Arab Spring and early post-civil uprising stage of the Syrian Civil War. Though the group is composed largely of Libyans, the group also has large amounts of Tunisians and Francophone Maghrebis from Europe, reportedly the perpetrators of the November 2015 Paris attacks and Manchester Arena bombing, including Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was suspected to be a leader of the group, were members of the group or affiliated with it, the group also pioneered the Inghimasi tactic used in the attack, and its fighters have largely employed the tactic on the battlefield.^[4] The group maintained close ties to Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia through networks in Libya and has established multiple training camps across Libya and has recruited Tunisians to these camps, which were located around Sirte and Tripoli. During beginning of the infighting between ISIL and its former allies such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham fighters from Katiba al-Bittar took part in open fighting against ISIL's opponents in Markada and Atarib, in the process losing several fighters.

In June 2014 after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared that ISIL had restored the Caliphate in Mosul the group pledged allegiance to ISIL.^[5]

In 2014, the group reportedly sent a delegation from al-Raqqah to Libya and established the Islamic Youth Shura Council in the city of Derna, which would later go on to become ISIL's Cyrenaica Province.

References