Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi

Who was Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi?

Abd el-Krim was a Moroccan Riffian political and military leader. Together with his brother Mhemmed, he led a large-scale revolt by a broad coalition of major Rif tribes against French and Spanish colonial occupation of the Rif, a large Berber-speaking area in northern Morocco, culminating in the establishment of the short-lived Republic of the Rif. His guerrilla tactics are known to have influenced Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara.