Khamis Gaddafi

Khamis al-Gaddafi (Arabic: خميس القذافي; born 27 May 1983), is the seventh and youngest son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and military commander, who is in charge of the Khamis Brigade of the Libyan army. He is a part of his father's inner circle.^[2]

Early during the 2011 Libyan civil war, some sources claimed that Khamis was killed on 20 March,^[3] but others continued to refer to it as a rumour,^[4] and he was later claimed to be alive and leading soldiers in Zliten.^[5] Rebels again claimed he was killed in an airstrike on 5 August, and again it was later disputed by Libyan officials.^[6]

At the age of three, Khamis was injured in the 15 April 1986 United States bombing of Libya, suffering head injuries when the Bab al-Azizia military compound was attacked in retaliation for the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing.^[7] He graduated from the military academy in Tripoli, receiving a bachelor’s degree in military arts and science, further graduating from the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow and the Academy of the General Staff Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2008 Khamis visited Algeria, where he was received by president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.^[1]

In April 2010, he began a masters degree at the IE Business School (formerly known as Instituto de Empresa), in Madrid.^[1] However, he was expelled by the institution in March 2011 for "his links to the attacks against the Libyan population".^[8]

In early 2010, Khamis worked as an intern at AECOM Technology Corporation. According to Paul Gennaro, AECOM's Senior Vice President for Global Communications, Khamis was touring the United States in February 2011 as part of his internship, including visiting military sites and landmarks. This trip was cut short on 17 February after the Libyan uprising began, and Khamis returned to Libya. U.S. government officials later denied any role in planning, advising or paying for the trip.^[9]

After hurrying back to Libya to aid his father in the civil war, Khamis commanded the assault on Az Zawiyah, leading the Khamis Brigade, a special forces brigade of the Libyan military loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.^{[10][10][11][12]} The battle resulted in pro-Gaddafi forces retaking the city. He also assisted in suppressing anti-regime demonstrations in and around the capital Tripoli in late February-early March. His forces also took part in the Battle of Misrata. In June 2011, he was reported to be commanding pro-Gaddafi forces in Zliten by a soldier captured from his brigade who also reported that Khamis had told his troops to "take Misurata or I will kill you myself. If you don’t take Misurata, we are finished."^[5]

On 20 March 2011, it was reported by the anti-Gaddafi Al Manara Media that Khamis al-Gaddafi had died from injuries sustained when pilot Muhammad Mokhtar Osman allegedly crashed his plane into Bab al-Azizia a week earlier. This was not confirmed by any independent news source. The crashing of the plane itself had also not been previously reported or confirmed by any other independent media except Al Manara and the Algerian Shuruk newspaper, which is closely connected to Al Manara, and with it there is a possibility of the reports being part of the propaganda operations by the opposition.^[13][14][15]

The pro-Gaddafi Libyan government subsequently denied that he was killed on 21 March.^[16] U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton stated that she was aware of reports that one of Gaddafi's sons had been killed in non-coalition air strikes, after hearing them from "many different sources", but that the "evidence is not sufficient" for her to confirm this.^[17][18] On 25 March 2011, Al Arabiya television reported that a source had confirmed the death of Khamis Gaddafi,^[3] though others including Al Jazeera continued to call it a rumour.^[4]

On 29 March 2011, the Libyan government showed footage of what it said was live footage of Khamis Gaddafi greeting supporters in Tripoli, in an attempt to refute the claims,^[19] though it had used false live images before and these images were not verified.^[20] On 9 June 2011, a captured pro-Gaddafi soldier in Misrata told the rebels that Khamis was alive in Zliten, and was leading the soldiers there.^[5]

On 5 August 2011, citing spies operating among the ranks of forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, a spokesman for a rebel militia group told the Agence France Press news agency that Khamis was among the dead. Mohammed Zawawi, a spokesman for the United Revolutionary Forces, stated that "there was a aircraft attack by NATO on the Gaddafi operations room in Zlitan and there are around 32 Gaddafi troops killed. One of them is Khamis."^[21]

The death of Khamis has officially been denied by Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim. "It's false news. They invented the news about Mr. Khamis Gaddafi in Zlitan to cover up their killing," Ibrahim told Reuters in Tripoli. "This is a dirty trick to cover up their crime in Zlitan and the killing of the al-Marabit family."^[6] NATO was also unable to confirm the reports of Khamis's death.^[22]

Substantial evidence that Khamis was alive was given on 9 August, when a man who appeared to be the youngest Gaddafi son appeared on Libyan TV speaking to a severely injured woman from an NATO airstrike.^[23]

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