Omar El-Hariri

Omar Mokhtar El-Hariri
Minister of Military Affairs of the National Transitional Council of Libya
In office
23 March – May 2011
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJalal al-Digheily
Personal details
Bornc. 1944
Died2 November 2015 (aged 70–71)
Political partyAnti-Gaddafi forces

Omar Mokhtar El-Hariri (c. 1944 – 2 November 2015) was a leading figure of the National Transitional Council of Libya who served as the Minister of Military Affairs in 2011, during the Libyan Civil War.[1] He controlled the National Liberation Army and the Free Libyan Air Force from March to May 2011. He served on the council Executive Board before being replaced by Jalal al-Digheily, and he headed Military Affairs in the unicameral National Transitional Council legislature.[2]

El-Hariri was involved in the initial 1969 coup against the monarchy that began Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule of Libya. He organised a plot to overthrow Gaddafi in 1975. When the coup was uncovered, 300 men were arrested, four of whom died during interrogation. Of the remainder, 21 were sentenced to death, including El-Hariri.[3] He was imprisoned for 15 years from 1975 to 1990 under a death sentence, with four and a half years in solitary confinement. Gaddafi commuted the sentence in 1990 and El-Hariri was subsequently placed under house arrest until the Libyan civil war broke out in 2011. After breaking free of his detention, El-Hariri eventually became the political head of the National Transitional Council's armed forces.[3]

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, El-Hariri said of Libya's future, "They will elect a new president and he will serve for a limited time. He could be removed if he does not serve the people. And, of course, we will need a parliament, and a multiparty system."[4]

On 19 May 2011, The Economist reported Jalal al-Digheily had been appointed "defense minister".[5] Al Jazeera and the Jamestown Foundation later confirmed that Digheily had replaced El-Hariri.[6][7] Unlike El-Hariri, Digheily was reportedly given a seat on the Executive Board of the National Transitional Council, while the "military affairs" department that El-Hariri had headed was afforded a seat on the council itself.[8]

He died in a road accident on 2 November 2015 on the road between Al Bayda and Al Qubbah.[9]

  1. ^ "Council members". Interim Transitional National Council of Libya. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  2. ^ "National Transitional Council". Benghazi: National Transitional Council. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Key figures in Libya's rebel council". BBC News. 10 March 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  4. ^ "How a onetime friend to Gadhafi became his rival". The Globe And Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  5. ^ "Libya: The colonel feels the squeeze". The Economist. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  6. ^ Hill, Evan (28 July 2011). "General's death puts Libyan rebels in turmoil". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  7. ^ Flood, Derek Henry (25 July 2011). "Special Commentary from Inside Western Libya-- On the Precipice: Libya's Amazigh in Revolt". The Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Libyan rebel leader sacks executive branch of transitional council". Al Arabiya. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  9. ^ "Death of Major-General Omar El-Hariri in a road accident (arabic)". Libya al Mostakbal. 2 November 2015. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.