EXCLUSIVE: Libyan missiles looted
CNN's Ben Wedeman and Ingrid Formanek reporting from Tripoli, Libya –
TRIPOLI, Libya (CNN) - A potent stash of Russian-made surface-to-air missiles is missing from a huge Tripoli weapons warehouse amid reports of weapons looting across war-torn Libya.
They are Grinch SA-24 shoulder-launched missiles, also known as Igla-S missiles, the equivalent of U.S.-made Stinger missiles.
A CNN team and Human Rights Watch found dozens of empty crates marked with packing lists and inventory numbers that identified the items as Igla-S surface-to-air missiles.
The list for one box, for example, written in English and Russian, said it had contained two missiles, with inventory number "Missile 9M342," and a power source, inventory number "Article 9B238."
Grinch SA-24s are designed to target front-line aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and drones. They can shoot down a plane flying as high as 11,000 feet and can travel 19,000 feet straight out.
Fighters aligned with the National Transitional Council and others swiped armaments from the storage facility, witnesses told Human Rights Watch. The warehouse is located near a base of the Khamis Brigade, a special forces unit in Gadhafi's military, in the southeastern part of the capital.
The warehouse contains mortars and artillery rounds, but there are empty crates for those items as well. There are also empty boxes for another surface-to-air missile, the SA-7.
Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch emergencies director, told CNN he has seen the same pattern in armories looted elsewhere in Libya, noting that "in every city we arrive, the first thing to disappear are the surface-to-air missiles."
He said such missiles can fetch many thousands of dollars on the black market.
"We are talking about some 20,000 surface-to-air missiles in all of Libya, and I've seen cars packed with them." he said. "They could turn all of North Africa into a no-fly zone."
There was no immediate comment from NTC officials.
The lack of security at the weapons site raises concerns about stability in post-Gadhafi Libya and whether the new NTC leadership is doing enough to stop the weapons from getting into the wrong hands.
A NATO official, who asked to not be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said 575 surface-to-air missiles, radar systems and sites or storage facilities were hit by NATO airstrikes and either damaged or destroyed between March 31 and Saturday. He didn't elaborate on the specifics about the targets.
Gen. Carter Ham, chief of U.S. Africa Command, has said he's concerned about the proliferation of weapons, most notably the shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles. He said there were about 20,000 in Libya when the international operation began earlier this year and many of them have not been accounted for.
"That's going to be a concern for some period of time," he said in April.
Gilles de Kerchove, the European Union counterterrorism coordinator, raised concerns Monday about the possibility that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, based in North Africa, could gain access to small arms, machine guns and surface-to-air missiles.
Western officials worry that weapons from the storage sites will end up in the hands of militants or adversaries like Iran.
The governments of neighboring Niger and Chad have both said that weapons from Libya are already being smuggled into their countries, and they are destined for al Qaeda. They include detonators and a plastic explosive called Semtex. Chad's president said they include SA-7 missiles.
An ethnic Tuareg leader in the northern Niger city of Agadez also said many weapons have come across the border. He said he and other Tuareg leaders are anxious about Gadhafi's Tuareg fighters returning home - with their weapons - and making common cause with al Qaeda cells in the region. Gadhafi's fighting forces have included mercenaries from other African nations.
The missing weapons also conjure fears of what happened in Iraq, where people grabbed scores of weapons when Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown.
Bouckaert said one or two of the missing artillery rounds are "enough to make a car bomb."
"We should remember what happened in Iraq," he said, when the "country was turned upside down" by insurgents using such weaponry.
There have been similar concerns in Afghanistan, where the United States provided thousands of Stinger missiles to the Afghan mujahedeen when they were fighting the Soviets in the 1980s. The United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to buy them back, fearful that they would fall into the hands of terrorists.
CNN's Emily Smith, Tim Lister, Joe Sterling and Larry Shaughnessy contributed to this report
@natlsecuritycnn on Twitter
Usually I never comment on blogs but your article is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it. You're doing a great job Man,Keep it up.
https://www.google.com/maps?cid=11933253185015063857
Commenting on a blog is an art. Good comments create relations. You're doing great work. Keep it up.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Relentless+Collision/@35.8167572,-78.597496,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xecfa0d223ab3249d!8m2!3d35.8167572!4d-78.597496
Wow this blog is very nice!
https://lyrics-for-song.com/what-to-do-if-you-want-auto-body-repair/
I really like this post
https://papillesencuisine.com/locating-reliable-dependable-hvac-repair/
Really very happy to say,your post is very interesting to read.I never stop myself to say something about it.You're doing a great job.Keep it up
https://www.twilighthush.com/typical-costs-of-hvac-repair-service/
carry on, dont stop
https://www.google.com/maps?cid=12039124596540498887
best i have ever seen!Hello, always i used to check webpage posts here early in the daylight, for the reason that i love to gain knowledge of more and more.
https://www.google.com/maps?cid=106407147833378062
Impressive! Thanks for the post
https://goo.gl/maps/WTPBHu1Md2N2
figure out how to Meet People Online
If you single and completed in life, Perhaps would need a long term relationship before you start a family of your own. In order to make a family for yourself you would require a partner for settling down. There are different ways in which you can meet singles for dating and one of the most popular ways is to meet people online. Today online dating is one most popular methods people meet and every second couple say that they met each other through the internet. There are many people to whom even the thought of internet dating seems to be scary due to the fact that internet often does not initially allow them to know who the person they are talking to is? They also grow apprehensive of the fact whether it would be safe if they speak to that person.
Along with these factors lots of other types of normal dating issues which make them think twice before going for online dating. But then one need to realize that creating an online business dating services is like increasing your social networks. It is just buy items connect with people and it works best with those who are shy and refrain from meeting strangers face to face. online dating services would allow you to meet strangers, determine whether they are compatible and then go ahead with face to face rendezvous.
If you think internet dating services can help you just in the way it has helped many people, You might need to create an online profile and then search profile for dating. The information would contain your details, concept, Uploaded photos which would enable singles to approach you for dating. Even if this feels like that you are going for the interview, could be of great aid. Only because the internet dating services have proved to be of so much aid that more and more single people are meeting online. The free online dating site is all the more popular for it is not just convenient but is highly economic. Online daters can save a lot of money through free online online dating services. these blogs are mostly reliable in nature; Hence you would not have to their authenticity. Once you enter the world of online dating you would find that a large group of single people have posted their personal advertisings at these dating online services.
both males and females are present in the online dating services; so,thereby, No matter you your gender is you can find your partner and even find long term compatible human relationships. Since the profiles are written in details you can read about any single in detail and determine whether he is good enough or matches your needs are. Though in order to embark on a long term relationship the outlook and external factor like that of the profile design would not suffice for in such relationships the inner beauty of the person concerned is also essential.
The online daters cannot just join the free dating services free of cost but can also find love and romance online. Today increasing numbers of people are taking recourse to online dating services for it is one of the easiest ways of meeting singles. you can go for either local sites or the international ones depending on your requirement and choice. Local sites will let you meet single people who live in your area while the international dating services would enable you to meet pof.com review people from different countries. Choose the type of online online dating services of your choice and go for it.
Thanks for wonderful information I used to be in search of this info for my mission.
http://twitter.com/home?status=http://xurl.es/ybmut
Your writing style has been surprised me. Thank you, quite great article.
http://54.249.99.185/blog/merlini/20190902164107.html
Keep this going please, great job!
https://2.gp/a9Dxc
Thank you, I've just been looking for information approximately this topic for a long time and yours is the greatest I have discovered so far. But, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you certain concerning the supply?
https://www.comoqueporque.com/looking-for-the-very-best-auto-body-repair-shop/
Thanks for the information.
https://www.huntthegoose.co.uk/looking-for-the-best-auto-body-repair-shop/
this is very informative and intersting for those who are interested in blogging field.
https://www.federatedfinancial.com/
Impressive! Thanks for the post
https://www.electricianislington.com/get-the-information-prior-to-you-borrow-payday-loan-101/
Thank You for your information
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/turgut-khan-367b291b7_httpslnkdineuhtcxm-whatever-your-reason-activity-6804348726358917120-yaLW