Arab Take on Resistance Against Italy in Libya

The United States military must begin to gain an appreciation for the nuances, perspectives and history of various guerilla wars of the Middle East. This history defines the region and inspires both friends and adversaries in the region. American military leaders of the 21st century need to be comfortable with their knowledge of Palestinian fedayeen tactics to the ongoing Iraqi insurgency. Undiscovered Arabic volumes exist that highlights the strategy, guerilla organization, tribal wars, tactics, and operational plans written by Islamist militants, the Arab security chiefs who combat them, as well as historians who analyze a host of terrorist wars, colonial wars, and personalities of the Middle East and North Africa. These Arabic tomes are gems in today’s 21st century American military environment. This commentary is an exposé of two Libyan historians Dr. Rifaat Abdul-Aziz Said of the Jebel Gharbi University and Mohammed Ahmed al-Tuweer of the April 7th University. These two acedmics published in 2000, an Arabic book entitled, “Tarikh al-Jihad fee Libya did al-Ghazu al-Italee, 1911-1931” (The history of the Libyan Jihad against the Italian Invasion from 1911-1931). It was published by Markaz al-Hadarah al-Arabiyah (The Center for Arab Civilization) in Cairo, Egypt. Although not every aspect of the book will be covered in this exposé, readers will gain a sense of the Arab view of military history when a handful of Ottoman officers, coupled with charismatic Libyan tribal leaders undertook a two decade long resistance against Italian forces attempting to annex Libya from 1911 to 1931.