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28-589: The area was a major population and cultural center of the Libu , who repeatedly expanded west. In the aftermath of the great Berber Revolt of the 8th century, Ibadi missionaries that had fled from the Umayyad Caliphate took refuge in the Nafusa Mountains. Preachers converted and organized the native Nafusa people into a fighting force. Under the leadership of Imam Abu al-Khattab al-Ma'afari,

56-563: A dozen millimetres more precipitation then Libya's capital city. In the 1920s, the Italians built a 90 kilometres (56 mi) long railway between Tripoli and a village near Gharyan that was destroyed by the British during World War II . Thanks to its mountainous climate (considerably more moderate compared to the rest of Libya), figs are grown for local consumption, with olives and saffron , for both local use and export. Gharyan

84-515: A few days at the barracks in Gharyan. Gharyan experiences a hot semi-arid climate ( Köppen climate classification BSh ), with blazing summers and cool winters; its winters being one of the coldest in Libya. Due to its winter months being 5 °C or 9 °F degrees cooler than Tripoli, the locality sees a cooler variation of said climate, though its higher elevation also meant that the town gets

112-547: A rebel stronghold, an island of rebel control in the mainly Gaddafi-controlled western part of the country. During the early stages, forces allied to the national transitional government succeeded in evacuating most non-combatants into Tunisia; the Wazzin border crossing was captured and held to ensure supply lines from Tunisia; all the mountain towns were retaken; and the front extended to the plains, cutting regime communications lines and allowing electricity to be restored. They were

140-470: A second territory on the focal town and the first town demonstrate their will against regime on the 16 Feb. ZENTAIN Libya besides Misrata that is no longer under the control of the Gaddafi forces, but as of late June the rebels had still failed to take Gharyan. On 13 August 2011, the rebel forces in Libya initiated a new battle for control of the city and were in control within two days. On 4 April 2019,

168-415: Is almost unpopulated, in marked contrast to the situation in Libya. The mountain area is rarely more than 25 km (16 mi) in depth, from its southern boundary, the flat arid plateau some 650 m (2,100 ft) above sea level, to its northern limit on the plain, where the land falls to below 150 m (490 ft). Much of the 500 m (2,000 ft) drop in level is accomplished abruptly, at

196-616: The feminine noun of Libyan . The name supposedly was used as an ethnic name in those inscriptions. In the Western Nile Delta , some time during the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt flourished a realm of the Libu led by "Great Chiefs of the Libu". Those rulers soon formed a dynasty, and they often had local "Chiefs of the Ma(shuash) " as their subordinates. The dynasty culminated with the chiefdom of Tefnakht who, despite holding both

224-453: The 22nd Dynasty. Gharyan Gharyan is a city in northwestern Libya , in Jabal al Gharbi District , located 80 km south of Tripoli . Gharyan is one of the largest towns in the district. Prior to 2007, it was the administrative seat of Gharyan District . In 2005, the population of Gharyan was estimated at 170,000, and it had grown to over 187,000 by 2011. Gharyan was on

252-897: The 9th century, while the Aghlabids ruled in Ifriqiya, the Ibadi maintained an independent puritan republic in the Nafusa mountains. The Imamate of Nafusa was in close alliance with the other Ibadi remnant, the Rustamid dynasty in Tiaret , both constant thorns on either side of the Aghlabids, in communication with each other across the back highlands of North Africa. In 879, the Tulunids of Egypt invaded Aghlabid Ifriqya and captured Tripoli. But

280-677: The Libu as men with pale complexion, tattooed, and with dark hair and eyes. Hostilities between Egypt and Libya broke out in regnal year 5 (1208 BCE), but the coalition of Libu and Sea Peoples led by the chief of the Libu Meryey was defeated. Libu appears as an ethnic name on the Merneptah Stele , also known as the Israel Stele . Ramesses III defeated the Libyans in the 5th year of his reign, but six years later

308-579: The Libyans joined the Meshwesh and invaded the western Delta and were defeated once again. This name Libu was taken over by the Greeks of Cyrenaica , who co-existed with them. Geographically, the name of this tribe was adopted by the Greeks for "Cyrenaica" as well as for northwestern Africa in general. In the neo- Punic inscriptions, Libu was written as Lby for the masculine noun, and Lbt for

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336-541: The Nafusa challenged and destroyed the Egyptian army in 880. Again the Nafusa victory was short-lived. In 896-97, the Aghlabid emir Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya recovered Tripolitana and defeated the Nafusa in a great battle at Manu (south of Gabès ). In the aftermath, citing them as heretics, Ibrahim II executed all the Nafusa prisoners and put an end to their independent imamate (Tahert fell shortly after, in 911). Despite

364-519: The Nafusa descended from the mountains and proceeded to conquer all of the crumbling Fihrid emirate of Ifriqiya - capturing Tripoli in 757 and Kairouan in 758. But the Abbasid Arab governor of Egypt invaded Ifriqya, defeated the Nafusa in a battle at Tawergha in 761 (his third attempt - his first two armies had been repulsed) and put an end to their putative new state. However, the Nafusa mountains themselves remained unconquered. Throughout

392-706: The adjoining Tunisian region of Tatouine , where many had relatives. As towns and villages in the Nafusa Mountains and surrounding areas were liberated from control by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in early summer 2011, and while fierce fighting continued, Berber exhibitions and workshops sprang up to share and spread the Tamazight culture and language, after four decades during which there were severe punishments for speaking and writing Tamazight openly. Libu The Libu ( Ancient Egyptian : rbw ; also transcribed Rebu , Libo , Lebu , Lbou , Libou ) were an Ancient Libyan tribe of Berber origin, from which

420-506: The city fell to forces loyal to Tobruk -based General Khalifa Haftar as part of a wider Libyan National Army (LNA) offensive in western Libya. In late June, the city was recaptured from the LNA in a counteroffensive by forces of the Tripoli -based Government of National Accord , aided in their efforts by collaborating citizens of the city mobilizing against the LNA forces. The LNA restarted

448-616: The control of the regime. The Nafusa Mountains form the boundary between the Libyan coastal plain, known as the Jafara, to the north, and the Tripolitanian Plateau to the south. The beds (strata) of the Tripolitanian Plateau slope downwards to the south and tilt upwards towards the north creating the highest portion of the plateau as the Nafusa mountains which rise to over 750 m (2,500 ft). The plateau ends abruptly on

476-590: The course of the Libyan Civil War (2011) , when their initiatives led to the Nafusa Mountains becoming a major front in that war. The terrain and topography of the region are critical strategic factors, constraining mechanised advances from the flat plain and plateau, and favouring guerrilla tactics based on close local knowledge and the advantage of high ground. By the end of June 2011 the Nafusi people had almost succeeded in liberating themselves completely from

504-497: The destruction of their states, Ibadi Islam remained a strong (if clandestine) faith among the Berbers of the Nafusa mountains for centuries after, down to the modern day. The lingering heterodoxy of the Nafusa people has placed them frequently at odds, or under suspicion, by the largely orthodox Sunni population of the rest of Libya. This distinct culture, suppressed and oppressed by the Libyan regime, has risen to new prominence in

532-477: The escarpment, where local topographic prominences may be up to 350 m (1,100 ft). It is from below, on the plain, viewing the steep slopes and sharply-etched skyline that the area appears mountainous; from the plateau the land appears merely hilly, and in fact it is rather flat apart from the effects of differential erosion. Towns in the mountains include Gharyan , Yafran , Zintan , Qotros , Jadu , Kabaw , Al-Qawalish and Nalut , which have all been

560-531: The first rebel combatants to be supplied with arms by air-drop. In the course of the civil war, many towns in the area were subjected to shelling by artillery and rockets from both sides, with much damage to infrastructure. Regime forces cut off electricity and water supplies. Médecins Sans Frontières sent a team in Zintan to help the large number of wounded. Al Galaa was without electricity and water for seven weeks, and more than 45,000 refugees fled for safety to

588-733: The name Libya derives. Their tribal origin in Ancient Libya is first attested in Egyptian language texts from the New Kingdom , especially from the Ramesside Period . The earliest occurrence is in a Ramesses II inscription. There were no vowels in the Egyptian script. The name Libu is written as rbw in Egyptian hieroglyphs. In the Great Karnak Inscription , the pharaoh Merneptah describes

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616-576: The north with an escarpment which has up to 350 m (1,100 ft) of topographic prominence. A series of deep valleys which drain north toward the Jefara cut into this escarpment. It extends about 250 km (160 mi) within Libya, from just east of the city of Gharyan (about 60 km (40 mi) south of Tripoli) in the east to the city of Wazzin at the Tunisian border in the west. Spurs and isolated upthrusts continue into Tunisia, but this region

644-465: The offensive in June 2020. Just west of Gharyan, there is a primitive road to the right, which provides a bumpy trip to a derelict former Italian barracks, a relic of World War II. There is a crumbling building at the camp. Painted on the bricks of one of the walls inside the building is an enormous (c.4m by 10m) representation of a naked woman, lying on her side, American pin-up style. The upper torso of

672-463: The sites of military action during the 2011 civil war. Since 2007, the mountains stretch across two districts: Jabal al Gharbi District and Nalut District . The mountain villages raise primarily goats, olives and grain, but also have fig and apricot orchards. The Nafusa Mountains became first a hotbed for anti-Gaddafi protests (with protests breaking out relatively early in Nalut and Zintan) and then

700-454: The titles of "Great Chief of the Libu" and of "Chief of the Ma" at Sais , was more probably of Egyptian ethnicity rather than either Libu or Ma. Later, Tefnakht claimed for himself even the pharaonic titles, founding the 24th Dynasty . Below lists the succession of the known "Great Chiefs of the Libu". They used to date their monuments following the regnal years of the contemporary pharaoh of

728-613: The trade routes both south to Fezzan and over the Nafusa Mountains . The early settlement was in caves, i.e. below ground. From 1830 until 1855 Gharyan was in revolt against its Ottoman rulers. By 1884 the Ottomans had established a mayor and town council in Gharyan. Gharyan was considered a center of Tripolitanian resistance to the Italian invasion in the early 20th century. Fully occupied by Italy by 1925, Gharyan

756-528: The woman is shaped as an inaccurate representation of the North Africa coast, and the salient points of her anatomy are marked with names of North African towns. The "Lady of Garian" was drawn by Clifford Saber, a volunteer American ambulance driver with the British 8th Army. Saber created the mural to help boost the morale of his fellow servicemen, finishing on 2 March 1943, while his unit was housed for

784-479: Was developed above ground, with a post and telegraph office, a police station, a medical clinic, several schools and a hotel being built between 1925 and 1928. The Berber tribe Awlad Abu Say is centered around Gharyan and Mizda to the south. In early 2011, the city became involved in the nationwide anti- Gaddafi uprising. Initially successful, on 2 March, government forces retook it. In April, rebels succeeded in occupying several nearby towns and establishing

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