Al-Zintan, located 160 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, is situated in the Nafusa Mountains, the major bastion of the Libyan Amazigh. The city has effectively become the dominant power in the western mountain region since the 17 February Revolution that overthrew the Gaddafi regime in 2011. It is known to possess a large arsenal of weapons, reports Kamel Abdallah. Economically, Al-Zintan has traditionally relied on agriculture. However, today it has become a major commercial hub in the Nafusa mountain region and most of its inhabitants are engaged in commerce to which testify the numerous stores and markets the visitor encounters when entering the city. It is particularly noted for having one of the largest truffles markets in the world. Yet in spite of the expansion of commerce and industry, the large proportion of the inhabitants remain engaged in agriculture, cultivating such crops as wheat and barley. Al-Jafara, the mountain riverbeds, and Marmoutha have long been prime agricultural areas. Although temperatures can climb in the summer and drop considerably in the winter, the climate is relatively mild throughout the year with the hillsides bursting into colour with the advent of spring and spring blossoms. According to the latest government statistics, Al-Zintan has a population of 30,000. However, the people of the city will generally tell you that the figure is much larger as they include in their calculations the people of Zintan residing in other cities such as Tripoli, Mazda, Tabaqa and Darj. The population of Al-Zintan is made up in part of a number of tribes such as Awlad Abul-Hol, Awlad Al-Dhwaib (also known as the Bin Eissa clan), Al-Omyan, Awlad Khalifa, Awlad Eissa and Al-Qawasem. These are Arab tribes that had established themselves in the Nafusa mountain range among the Amazigh. Collectively they are referred to as the Zintan tribes. During the revolution, Zintan became a revolutionary stronghold and one of the foremost centres for training combatants to fight the Gaddafi regime. These would liberate most of the areas in the western mountain region and also contribute to the liberation of the western coastal region and the capital. The Zintan tribes were traditionally allied with the Warfala, the largest of Libyan tribes, with which they are connected by a strong kinship bond through the paternal line. However, the outbreak of the revolution precipitated a rift in that alliance which had formed the backbone of a larger tribal confederation known as the “Upper rank”, which also included Al-Maqarha, Al-Qadhadhfa, the Tarhun and the Awlad Suleiman tribes. The decision of the Zintan tribes to break with their traditional alliances and join the “national rank”, or the coalition of coastal tribes that took up arms against the Gaddafi regime, created an unprecedented rift in their alliance with the Warfala. In the post-Gaddafi era, the Zintan tribes came to divide control over the capital with the highly influential coastal city of Misrata. However, the Zintan-Misrata alliance, too, began to crumble in the course of tugs-of-war over power. As Misrata's links to the Islamist forces that have come to prevail since Gaddafi's overthrow are stronger than its alliance with the Zintan, the Zintan tribes, which have been major supporters of the secularist and liberal trends, have once again begun to rethink their alliances. Al-Zintan is the second most powerful city after Misrata in western Libya where the political divides and conflicts are more complex than they are in the east of the country. Like Misrata, Al-Zintan has some strong military formations and militia, most notably the Sawaeg Brigade, the Qaqa Regiment and Al-Madani Regiment. The latter was among the remnants of Gaddafi's forces and, specifically, of the 32nd Regiment that had been commanded by Gaddafi's son Khamis who was killed in Tarhuna in the last months of the revolution and who was buried in Beni Walid. Al-Zintan also houses a large arsenal that it had acquired during the revolution. But it does not possess as many soldiers or militiamen as Misrata. That balance of military might was tangibly felt during the political conflict that erupted in February, when the General National Congress (GNC) voted to extend its term beyond its constitutionally stipulated expiry date of 7 February. In what became the most flagrant act of defiance against the highest legislative authority in the country, the Zintan militia regiments surrounded the GNC premises and issued GNC members a five-hour ultimatum in order to either hand in their resignations or be subject to arrest and prosecution. However, these regiments were forced to back down in view of the greater number of Misrata militiamen and the general “balance of terror” that grips the capital. The two Zintan regiments — the Sawaeq and Qaqa — that were involved in that facedown gave a combined force of around 17,000 troops. Most hail from Al-Zintan city. Many of them are former members of the official Libyan army under Gaddafi, while others came from the revolutionary forces that had fought in the western mountain fronts during the anti-Gaddafi struggle. The Sawaeq and Qaqa brigades were created in January 2012 by former Minister of Defence Osama Jweili, a native of Al-Zintan. At the time, Youssef Al-Manqoush, who was chief of staffs of the national army, had just formed the “Central regiment” which was affiliated with Misrata and consisted of 25,000 troops, most affiliated with the Islamist trends. The two militias are led by front commanders, such as Othman Amliqata, the brother of Abdel-Majid Amliqata, who chairs the steering committee of the liberal oriented National Forces Alliance (NFA) headed by Mahmoud Jibril. The militia leadership also consists of field commanders such as Khaled Al-Zintani, a former revolutionary commander, and the current head of the Al-Qima Party, Abdullah Naker. Sources in Libya agree that the two regiments were created precisely as a response to — and in order to offset — the creation of the “Central regiment” affiliated with Misrata, giving rise a major facet of the current balance of powers in western Libya. As important as troop sizes are in the balances of power, other cards also come in handy. Just as Misrata holds a number of Gaddafi era figures in its prison, Al-Zintan boasts possession of Seif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi who was apprehended in November 2011 while trying to escape the country through a desert route.Osama Jweili was awarded the defence portfolio in the Abdel-Rahim Al-Kib government as a reward for Seif Al-Islam's capture. Al-Zintan continues to hold out against demands to hand over this prisoner to Tripoli where he is therefore being tried in absentia. He is a valuable ace up Al-Zintan's sleeve in its struggle with Misrata over control of the capital. However, just as Misrata is surrounded by a cordon of adversaries, the same can be said of Al-Zintan. Chief among them would be the city's Amazigh neighbours, who view the Zintan tribes as interlopers or occupiers of portions of their Nafusa mountain bastion. However, Al-Zintan also counts some other Arab tribes among its adversaries, such as the Qantrar and Al-Mashashiya. Al-Zintan is also gripped by internal discord. Part of this derives from the fact that the forces that are holding Seif Al-Islam are Islamists. This factor was instrumental in causing problems for Al-Zintan with Algeria in 2013. Investigations into the Ain Amenas hostage crisis revealed that the terrorists who carried out the attack against the natural gas facility had obtained their weapons from Al-Zintan.
