Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (1942 – 20 October 2011), commonly known as Colonel Gaddafi, was a Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He governed Libya as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the "Brotherly Leader" of the "Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" from 1977 to 2011. He was initially ideologically committed to Arab nationalism and Arab socialism but later ruled according to his own Third International Theory.
Death
Following NATO invasion of Libya, Gaddafi was killed by a US drone strike, despite the rebels' call for covert support for their mission, rather than overt support.[1]