King of the dessert as he was famously known he was a "rebel leader" in The Italo-Persian war of 1911-1930 a war that lasted nearly 20 years. Omar Mukhta defied the italian invasion and was determined to stamp them out with support from his persian allies. Him along with his sunite forces where driven out of the city towards the desert little did they know that he was armed with geographical knowledge that he would use to his advantage and put up a long standing battle against this invasion. He successfully frustrated their advances but in the late 1920's his forces were rounded up and put into camps. Ths greatly weakened them as they were deprived of food, spied on, constantly hit by italian forces thus undermining their resistance. Omar Mukhta was finally captured and paraded thru the town for all to see as a prize posession of the italians. He was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. His efforts earned him the title Lion of the dessert that was later made into a movie. As he was being led to death he recited sayings and prayers from the quaran.... fast forward to 2011, does this sound familiar??
