Fawzi Ayyad was responsible for marriage, divorce and other personal status affairs as part of ISIS’ administration when it controlled Sirte. During the battles to liberate the city, Ayyad was cited in the news an ISIS leader and was believed to have been killed. Reports about his death were wrong, but he may have played a bigger role in the terrorist organization than he claims. The following interview with Ayyad was conducted in a prison in Misrata, where he is currently detained.

Fawzi Ayyad, can you please tell us about yourself?

I was born in 1976 and I graduated from Sirte University as an electric engineer. I have been living in Sirte since 1987.

You established Ansar Al-Sharia in Sirte in 2013. Was it the prelude to establishing ISIS?

No, it was not. In 2013, Ansar Al-Sharia was established in Sirte by Ali Safrani, as preaching group to fight drugs and negative phenomena.

What made us pledge allegiance to ISIS was the launch of Al-Karama (Dignity) Operation in eastern Libya and our fears of its victory. At that time, we, as Al-Sharia supporters, felt that we were threatened, and after lengthy meetings, we decided to pledge allegiance to ISIS.

Tell us about the birth of ISIS in Libya as you were one of ISIS’ leaders. How did you pledge allegiance to Al-Baghdadi?

I must correct you, I am not one of the leaders of ISIS in Libya. I am an ordinary member. I was only a personal status judge.

ISIS in Libya was established in Derna in 2014 by Hassan Al-Sha’eri, who was called Abu Habib. It had two groups: one in Benghazi and the other in Derna. Abu Habib was a Libyan jihadist who was imprisoned in Iraq during the US-led invasion. He was later released. A while after he came to Libya and stayed in Derna, he decided to pledge allegiance to ISIS, especially after the group expanded in Iraq and Lavender.

In the same year, Safrani, leader of Ansar Al-Sharia in Libya, decided that I, Ahmed Saleh, Waleed Al-Farjani, Waleed Ak’eem go to Raqqa in Syria to pledge allegiance to ISIS.

But why did you go to Raqqa as ISIS was already present in Derna, which was near you?

When we were in Sirte, we did not know that ISIS had a presence in Derna and that Abu Habib pledged allegiance to it.

We went to Syria and met some ISIS members including Turki Benali, Head of the Iftaa Office in ISIS, Abu Mohamed Al-Iraqi, Head of the Borders Office in ISIS, Abu Mohamed Al-Adnani, ISIS spokesperson, and others.

After we discussed the idea with Abu Mohamed Al-Adnani, he informed us that ISIS was indeed present in Libya in Derna under the leadership of Abu Habib and that we should go back to Libya.

We returned to Libya and met Ali Safrani at my house in Sirte. In September 2014, we pledged allegiance to ISIS through Abu Abd Al-Aziz Al-Anbari, an Iraqi who replaced the Libyan Abu Habib.

Along with Al-Anbari came Abu Mu’az Al-Iraqi, Abu Amer Al-Jazrawi, from Syria to officially announce ISIS in Sirte. I and Abu Habib attended the ceremony along with Waleed Al-Farjani, Ali Al-Safrani, Abdul Hadi Zarqun, Ahmed Saleh, and someone named Hassan from Derna.

Most of Ansar Al-Sharia in Benghazi pledged allegiance to ISIS. After pledging allegiance in Sirte, the leaders went to Derna to collect the remaining allegiances and founded departments including the police, preaching and others.

How were ISIS leaders in Libya chosen, especially since most of them were not Libyans?

Abu Abdulaziz Al-Anbari, ISIS leader in Libya, Abu Mu’az Al-Iraqi, Abu Amer Al-Jazrawi, managed ISIS in Libya and everything went through them.

Was your attack against Bu Qareen (east of Misrata) in May 2016 the beginning to enter Misrata and take control of the largest geographic area, after some of your groups ran away from Derna?

The attack on Bu Qareen Gate, and later on Al-Saddada was carried out only by parts of the group, which withdrew from Derna and some which ISIS groups called the ‘Desert Squadrons’.

I heard from the attackers that the aim of Bu Qareen’s attack was to take control over Bani Waleed rather than Misrata. However, when the Bunyan Marsous Operation started in Sirte, the plan to capture Bani Waleed failed.

Why Bani Waleed?

I have no idea but in general ISIS always aimed to gain more land.

Did you expect that a major operation such as Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous would be carried out to defeat ISIS in Sirte?

As a member, I knew that any attempt to attack Misrata would have serious repercussions.

However, you blew up Misrata’s gates and tried to blow up some of its military and security institutions?

Blowing up the gates aimed to alleviate the pressure of the attack of the Brigade 166 in Sirte and the strikes of the Libyan Air Force.

After the Bunyan Al-Marsous Operation began, did you get in touch with the group in Syria and Iraq and did you receive instructions from them during fighting?

As a member, I have no idea, since leaders were the ones receiving orders.

As the ISIS leaders in Sirte were not Libyans, which were the most popular nationalities?

The three most popular nationalities were Tunisians, Egyptians and the Sudanese. There were other nationalities like Senegalese, Nigerians and Saudis and two Iraqis. I expected that the number of ISIS members was no more than 1,500 but I later learned that there were more.

Why did you behead the Copts on Sirte’s beaches in February 2015? What was the message you wanted to get across?

The only thing I know is that Abu Amer Al-Jazrawi was the one featured in the video of beheading the Egyptian Copts and that he read the letter before slaughtering them. The aim was just propaganda and to recruit more people.

How did the group manage to survive for two years?

There were financial allocations to Ansar Al-Sharia and we financed ourselves through the desert groups, which captured the vehicles transferring fuel and any car owned by a public entity.

You killed the Salafi Sheikh Khaled bin Rajab in August 2015 and the whole residential Neighborhood No. 3 revolted against you. What made ISIS commit such a massacre?

Ten people were killed. ISIS specified squares for performing Eid Al-Fitr Prayers. However, bin Rajab, who was the imam of a mosque in Neighborhood No.3 insisted on performing the prayers in the mosque, violating ISIS’ orders. When a force came to arrest him, he resisted and some clashes happened. He was killed and a few others were wounded. After his burial, some of bin Rajab’s relatives attacked some ISIS detention centers from Neighborhood No. 3 and after three days of clashes, ISIS managed to control the neighborhood.

During the Bunyan Al-Marsous Operation, some news spread that a number of ISIS leaders were smuggled out of Sirte by sea. Is that true?

It is not. Abu Mu’az Al-Iraqi, who replaced Abu Abdul Aziz as a leader of ISIS in Libya after he was killed by an American airstrike on Derna in 2015, fled through the desert. The other one is Abu Amer Al-Jazrawi. He remained till the end. I believe he was killed.

Most of ISIS fled through the desert. Do you think there are attempts to take revenge or regroup?

At the time, we did not know of their escape. After a while, we heard that Abu Mu’az Al-Iraqi, with 100 members, escaped from the Borders and Immigration Center. Some leaders escaped with them, such as Malek Al-Khazemi, ISIS leader in Barga. I think that ISIS leadership ordered them to escape.

What were the last days in Sirte like?

During the last days, we were besieged with no food. The streets were full of Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous’ snipers. Any attempt to move from one house to another meant death.

You hid in the coastal area of Giza. How did that happen?

At the time, I had two options: either to hide in some delipidated home or to surrender myself, as staying in the open meant death. I was afraid to surrender myself as I could also be killed and be captured by some relative or friend of someone who was killed during the Sirte clashes. I found an opening, which led to a home destroyed by an airstrike. After I went into the house, it was shelled again and the opening was closed. I was dead and alive at the same time. I lost one of my eyes in the clashes.