| Battle of Al-Rahiba | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Second Italo-Senussi War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Italy |  Senussi | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Major Passi | Omar al-Mukhtar | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 12 officers 744 men | 350 men | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 6 officers killed 340 men killed | Unknown | ||||||
The Battle of Al-Rahiba was a military engagement between the Senussi order led by Omar al-Mukhtar and the Italians. The Senussi won a resounding victory against the Italians.
After the battles the Senussis had in Jabal al Akhdar led by Omar al-Mukhtar in January 1927, the Senussis then went to Jabal al Ubaid territories, as it provided a place for gatherings and reorganizing their forces in these fertile lands. To attack the Italians there, the Senussis had a force of only 350 men, according to Italian reports. The Italians feared that this force might encourage the tribes subjugated by the Italians, which would put them in a dangerous situation. This is when the Italians decided to strike. [1]
An Italian force of 12 officers and 744 men led by Major Passi marched starting at 9:00 p.m. on March 27 towards Jardas al-ʽAbid , arriving at 6:00 a.m. the next day. They went for the thick forests, where they met resistance from the Senussis. As the march continued, more attacks increased until they arrived at Al-Rahiba Depression, where they fought with the Senussis. The Italians succeeded in capturing some high positions; however, the Senussis counter-attacked in front while also surrounding them. [2]
The Italian leader saw that they could no longer achieve their goal and ordered a retreat. The Senussis chased them and exploited the disunity happening among the Italians, along with their knowledge of the territory, which allowed them to circle the Italians and separate them, which killed many of the Italians. Due to underestimating the Senussi numbers, the Italians lost 6 officers and 340 lives. [3]
This defeat shook the center and prestige of the Italians and prompted Governor Attilio Teruzzi to initiate several military and political measures in an attempt to strike the resistance movement. [4]
The Senusiyya, Senussi or Sanusi are a Muslim political-religious Sufi order and clan in Libya and surrounding regions founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Grand Sanussi, the Algerian Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi.
Fort Capuzzo was a fort in the colony of Italian Libya, near the Libya–Egypt border, next to the Italian Frontier Wire. The Litoranea Balbo ran south from Bardia to Fort Capuzzo, 8 mi (13 km) inland, west of Sollum, then east across the Egyptian frontier to the port over the coastal escarpment. The fort was built during the Italian colonial repression of Senussi resistance in the Second Italo-Senussi War (1923–1931), as part of a barrier on the Libya–Egypt and Libya–Sudan borders.
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.
The Senussi campaign took place in North Africa from November 1915 to February 1917, during the First World War. The campaign was fought by the Kingdom of Italy and the British Empire against the Senussi, a religious order of Arabic nomads in Libya and Egypt. The Senussi were courted by the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire. Recognising French and Italian threats, the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II had twice sent his aide-de-camp Azmzade Sadik El Mueyyed to meet Sheikh Muhammed El Mehdi El Senussi to cultivate positive relations and counter the west European scramble for Africa. In the summer of 1915, the Ottomans persuaded the Grand Senussi Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi to declare jihad, attack British-occupied Egypt from the west and to encourage insurrection in Egypt to divert British forces.
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