Omar al-Mukhṭār Muḥammad bin Farḥāṭ al-Manifī, called The Lion of the Desert, known among the colonial Italians as Matari of the Mnifa, was an Imam and leader of native resistance in Cyrenaica under the Senussids, against the Italian colonization of Libya. A teacher-turned-general, Omar was a prominent figure of the Senussi movement and is considered the national hero of Libya and a symbol of resistance in the Arab and Islamic worlds. Beginning in 1911, he organised and led the Libyan resistance movement against the Italian colonial empire during the First and Second Italo-Senussi Wars. Externally, he also fought against the French colonization of Chad and the British occupation of Egypt. After many attempts, the Italian Armed Forces managed to capture Al-Mukhtar near Slonta when he was wounded in battle by Libyan colonial troops, and hanged him in 1931 after he refused to surrender.
Assad El-Sahra (أسد الصحراء) or "Lion of the Desert"
Omar Mukhtar photographed with Libyan Senussi fighters.
Omar Mukhtar entering the court room.
Photo of Omar Mukhtar sitting
Italian Cyrenaica was an Italian colony, located in present-day eastern Libya, that existed from 1911 to 1934. It was part of the territory conquered from the Ottoman Empire during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911, alongside Italian Tripolitania.
Stamp of Italian Cyrenaica
Derna - Bar and restaurant Cirenaica - Goods train (stamped on 29 December 1916)
The Italian Benghazi Municipio (City Hall) in the 1920s
The Palazzo Littorio, later called the "Parliament of Cyrenaica", built in 1927