Gadhafi's 'dead' son appears on Libyan TV
Source: Agencies |
August 11, 2011, Thursday
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LIBYAN state television yesterday broadcast images of a man it said was Moammar Gadhafi's youngest son, footage that appears to refute rebel claims of his death at a time when the opposition is showing signs of strain and disarray six months into its battle with the Libyan leader.
The images of Khamis Gadhafi, who commands one of the best trained and equipped units in the Libyan military, come as the rebel leadership, known as the National Transition Council, grapples with fallout from the killing of its top military chief, Abdel-Fattah Younis, possibly by other rebels.
The rebels claimed last Friday that Gadhafi's son was killed in a NATO airstrike on the western frontline town of Zlitan - a report Tripoli dismissed as an attempt to deflect attention from the killing of Younis.
Younis's body was found two weeks ago, dumped outside the rebels' de facto eastern capital, Benghazi, along with the bodies of two colonels who were his top aides. They had been shot and their bodies burned.
Khamis Gadhafi's appearance at a Tripoli hospital on Tuesday, if genuine, would be the first time he has been seen in public since the reports of his death. The younger Gadhafi was shown visiting several people wounded in a NATO airstrike.
The footage could add to the troubles of the opposition, raising questions about the veracity of its reports even as it tries to shore up its image after Younis's killing by way of a Cabinet reshuffle.
The Libyan revolt began in mid-February, with the rebels quickly wresting control of much of the eastern half of the country, as well as pockets in the west.
Six months on, the conflict is a stalemate.
The rebels have failed to budge the front lines in the east since April, and have made only minor gains from the pockets they control in the western Nafusa mountains and the port city of Misrata.
Gadhafi, meanwhile, continues to control the rest of the west from his stronghold in Tripoli, despite NATO airstrikes.
Then in late June, Younis was killed outside Benghazi, deeply shaking the opposition's leadership and their western allies, which have backed them heavily.
It also rattled a populace in rebel-held areas that has been growing frustrated by a lack of progress on the battlefield.
The images of Khamis Gadhafi, who commands one of the best trained and equipped units in the Libyan military, come as the rebel leadership, known as the National Transition Council, grapples with fallout from the killing of its top military chief, Abdel-Fattah Younis, possibly by other rebels.
The rebels claimed last Friday that Gadhafi's son was killed in a NATO airstrike on the western frontline town of Zlitan - a report Tripoli dismissed as an attempt to deflect attention from the killing of Younis.
Younis's body was found two weeks ago, dumped outside the rebels' de facto eastern capital, Benghazi, along with the bodies of two colonels who were his top aides. They had been shot and their bodies burned.
Khamis Gadhafi's appearance at a Tripoli hospital on Tuesday, if genuine, would be the first time he has been seen in public since the reports of his death. The younger Gadhafi was shown visiting several people wounded in a NATO airstrike.
The footage could add to the troubles of the opposition, raising questions about the veracity of its reports even as it tries to shore up its image after Younis's killing by way of a Cabinet reshuffle.
The Libyan revolt began in mid-February, with the rebels quickly wresting control of much of the eastern half of the country, as well as pockets in the west.
Six months on, the conflict is a stalemate.
The rebels have failed to budge the front lines in the east since April, and have made only minor gains from the pockets they control in the western Nafusa mountains and the port city of Misrata.
Gadhafi, meanwhile, continues to control the rest of the west from his stronghold in Tripoli, despite NATO airstrikes.
Then in late June, Younis was killed outside Benghazi, deeply shaking the opposition's leadership and their western allies, which have backed them heavily.
It also rattled a populace in rebel-held areas that has been growing frustrated by a lack of progress on the battlefield.
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