The CIA has sent a small, covert team into rebel-held eastern Libya while the White House debates whether to arm the opposition, NPR and RT have confirmed.
The operatives are in Libya to gather intelligence to help direct NATO airstrikes and to help train inexperienced rebel fighters.
“The CIA team is there to train them how to shoot, how to fight, how to have military discipline,” NPR’s Deborah Amos reported from Cairo. “They are joining a team of former Libyan military officers who are now training about 30,000 young Libyans in the rebel stronghold to also improve discipline, improve communications and make it into a more coherent fighting force.”
The move was authorized after President Obama signed what’s called a “finding,” a legal step necessary before the CIA can carry out secret operations, NPR’s Tom Bowman reported.