By Jihad Nasr   

TRIPOLI, Libya

Muhammad al-Mukhtar, the only son of iconic freedom fighter Omar al-Mukhtar (1858-1931), who for 20 years led Libya’s popular resistance against Italian occupation forces, has died at the age of 97.  

According to sources from al-Mukhtar’s Al-Manfah tribe, he passed away Thursday afternoon at his home in Libya’s northeastern city of Benghazi. 

The same tribal sources told Anadolu Agency that al-Mukhtar (1921-2018) had died after struggling with illnesses associated with old age, for which he had been receiving treatment both in Libya and abroad. 

In his early years, al-Mukhtar spent 18 years in Egypt, where he received his formal education at Alexandria’s Al-Shatibi School. 

He was still in Egypt in 1931 when he received news of his father’s death by hanging at the hands of Italian occupation forces.