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Moammar Gadhafi |
WASHINGTON - NATO-backed Libyan rebels are showing signs of serious fracture, punctuated by their indiscriminate killing of civilians, and they now face a challenge from the Warfalla and other pro-government tribes who could turn the tide in favor of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, according to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
The development could prompt a reconsideration by the Western alliance of what should be accomplished in strife-torn Libya.
Two U.S. sources currently in Tripoli told G2Bulletin that Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim, who is part of the embattled Gadhafi regime, told them that the Warfalla tribe – one of the largest in Libya – is being joined by other tribes to fight the rebels because of what is described as indiscriminate killing of civilians by Western alliance-backed troops.
The sources said that Qatari troops, tanks and helicopters "are openly killing these unarmed tribal members. They have their Qatari tanks in the streets of Benghazi. They are actively shooting on unarmed civilians."
The original purpose of foreign intervention by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was to halt what was perceived as Gadhafi's indiscriminate killing of unarmed civilians.
NATO intervention, which included the United States, was in response to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 passed in March to set up a no-fly zone to halt Libyan government aircraft, tanks and artillery from killing civilians.
Because Libyan government troops have continued fighting unabated, there are concerns that the resolution is being interpreted to allow the introduction of foreign troops on the ground to assist the rebels. NATO members France, Britain and the U.S. already have sent in military advisers and intelligence analysts to work alongside the rebels.
In the months following passage of the resolution, there were concerns from many NATO members, as well as Russia and China on the U.N. Security Council, that NATO bombing was being extended without authorization to attack non-military targets.
Targets have included the main television station in Tripoli in the western part of Libya. The bombing also extended to the residence where Gadhafi himself lived.
Franklin Lamb, an international lawyer who is in Tripoli, told G2Bulletin that repeated NATO bombings also have included hospitals, Ramadan food storage warehouses, the country's main water distribution infrastructure, private homes and "more than 1,600 other civilian sites."
"The force that is rapidly entering into this conflict is the leadership of Libya's more than 2,000 tribes," Lamb said. "In a series of meetings in Libya, Tunisia and elsewhere, the Tribal Council is speaking out forcefully and forging a political block that is demanding an end to Libyans killing Libyans."
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