![]() After the Arab League instructed Arab satellite providers to stop transmitting Gaddafi's state-run Libyan television on their frequencies in May, many of the country's residents relied on Libya al-Ahrar and its prorebel slant for their news. The network was established in March to chip away at Gaddafi's support in areas still under his control. Qatar also helped launch a Libyan satellite channel, Libya al-Ahrar, by providing it office space in Doha and transmitting its signal. When international oil firms refused to offload oil shipments in Benghazi's port until the NTC paid for them, Qatar intervened and pledged to do so if the Libyan council could not. Later, the small but immensely rich country delivered four consignments of refined petroleum products, such as diesel and gasoline. Qatar stepped in by offering to market 1 million barrels of oil for the NTC, which brought in about $100 million. With no access to money and facing legal difficulties in selling oil, the rebels' political body known as the National Transitional Council (NTC) could not pay Libyan salaries and fund the wide-ranging subsidies on everything from bread to gas, which grease the economy. Qatar did much more than finance weapons purchases and provide battlefield training. (See if Qatar shares the same agenda as the West in Libya.) ![]() Today, they are preparing to fund a program to send Libyan troops to train in France. The Qataris also trained the rebels, taking hundreds to Doha while sending their officers to Libya to provide battlefield expertise. As it became clear that the rebels were underequipped and no match for Gaddafi's better-outfitted troops, the Qataris sent heavy weaponry like French Milan antitank missiles. Early on, the Qataris delivered logistical provisions, ranging from walkie-talkies to Chevrolet SUVs. Qatar provided the rebels with weapons and supplies they needed to fight the Libyan leader's troops. The resolution paved the way for the NATO air campaign that turned the tide of the war and sealed Gaddafi's fate. It spearheaded the Arab League's effort to urge the U.N. ![]() Qatar's role was crucial during the early days of the revolution. But after the capital of Tripoli fell and the country's leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was killed, Libyans turned on their benefactor, accusing Qatar of a hidden agenda: getting a small faction of Islamists to implement its agenda. During the eight-month revolution, Libyans in rebel-held areas praised Qatar. The Persian Gulf emirate provided the struggling rebels everything from weapons to heating oil. Over the past few months the area around Brak Al-Shati, including another base at Tamanhent and the southern city of Sabha, has become a flashpoint between forces loyal to the LNA, led by eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar, and rivals who are aligned with current and former governments in Tripoli and draw on support from Misrata.Ī spokesman for the Misrata-based Third Force, Mohamed Gliwan, said they had attacked the base because they had detected “suspicious movements” inside, and that the base had become a threat under 12th Brigade commander Mohamed Bin Nayel.Follow Libya's cashed-strapped rebels needed financial support to bankroll their revolution last spring, they did not look to Western powers such as the U.S. If confirmed it could mark a major escalation in Libya’s stop-start conflict in which fighting breaks out frequently but casualty figures are often low. ![]() The death toll could not be independently verified. A 12th Brigade spokesman, Mohamed Al-Afirs, said as many as 86 people had been killed including his brigade’s troops and civilians. The mayor of Brak Al-Shati, Ibrahim Zemmi, told local media that the number of dead from the 12th Brigade alone was 74, with a further 18 wounded.
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