National Front for the Salvation of Libya

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NATIONAL FRONT FOR THE SALVATION OF LIBYA

the principal opposition to qaddafi's regime in libya.

The National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL) was established in 1981. Illegal in Libya, it operates in exile under the leadership of its secretary-general, Muhammad Yusuf al-Magarief, a former Libyan ambassador to India. Encompasing opponents of Muammar al-Qaddafi of a variety of political persuasions, many of whom served in early Qaddafi governments, the NFSL has broadcast radio programming into Libya, published several newspapers and magazines abroad, and is credited with having organized a 1984 attack on the military barracks at Bab al-Aziziyya, where Qaddafi often stayed. During the mid-1980s, at the height of the American confrontation with Libya, the NFSL denied widespread allegations that it received assistance from the United States. By the 1990s, leadership positions in the NFSL were being assumed by younger Libyans who had grown up in exile and lived most of their lives outside the country.

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