Libyan Rebels Say They’re Getting Weapons From Abroad

[Gerald]

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libyan rebels say they have begun receiving arms shipments from abroad, although there has been no independent confirmation of that.

The rebel military leader, Gen. Abdel Fattah Younes, on Saturday said in an interview with Al Arabiya, a satellite news channel, that his forces had received weapons supplies from unidentified nations that support their uprising.

A spokesman for the rebels’ National Transitional Council, Mustafa Gheriani, confirmed General Younes’s statement but also refused to provide details.

Asked whether any arms shipments had arrived yet, a spokesman for the rebel military, Col. Ahmed Bani, smiled broadly, but then insisted, “I didn’t quite confirm it.”

On Thursday, however, the emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, told CNN that his country would provide weapons to the rebels and that deliveries of antitank weapons might already have reached them. Qatar, along with Italy and France, has already recognized the rebels as the legitimate government of Libya.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/wo...7libya.html?hp

Note: April 16, 2011