Muhammad Tariq Abd al-Qadir al-Afriqi

Muhammad Tariq Abd al-Qadir al-Tarabulsi al-Afriqi was a Libyan military officer who served as a commander in the Ottoman Army and later he became the first Chief of War Staff of King Abd al-Aziz al-Saud's army, with the rank of brigadier general, and in addition he participated in the Arab-Israeli War. Tariq al-Afriqi possessed extensive military culture and experience and was fluent in Arabic, Turkish, German, French and Hausa. Known for his commitment to Arab nationalism, he was nicknamed Al-Namir al-Aswad (The Black Tiger) because of his ethnic origin. He graduated from the Turkish military school with the rank of second lieutenant With the outbreak of the Great War, he will be selected as one of the Turkish and Libyan officers to attack the British in Egypt. Tariq al-Afriqi was among the group that reached the eastern borders to push Sheikh Ahmed al-Sharif to fight the British in Egypt. Tariq participated in the advance of the Ottoman Libyan troops towards the outskirts of Alexandria, but lack of supplies and lack of equipment caused the troops to withdraw. After this failure, Tariq continued in the fight and joined the forces of Sheikh Sulayman al-Baruni During the fighting, he became known as the Black Tiger and caught the eye of Libyan Arab nationalist leader Bashir al-Sadawi. Al-Sadawi founded an association of Libyan exiles in the Levant for the liberation of Libya called the Tripoli Defense Association and of which Tariq al-Afriqi will be a very important member. When Ahmad Nami's government sought advice from al-Sadawi, Tariq used this to approach and curry favor with the Syrian authorities and obtain citizenship.

Death In 1958 Muhammad Tariq al-Afriqi suffered a paralysis that forced him to confine himself to bed for the last years of his life. His condition worsened and finally on Tuesday, October 15, 1963, he died. Tariq was buried in the Bab al-Saghir Cemetery in Damascus.