Libyan Rebels Grab Huge Arms Cache

A group of Libyan rebels seized what some Arab television networks described as the biggest arms depot in Africa yesterday, at the Ghaaa military base—not that it was particularly well guarded. Though the base had a complement of about 60 soldiers, the arms cache itself was surrounded by nothing but barbed wire, the LA Times reports. Fortifications were deemed unnecessary because locals were too afraid of Moammar Gadhafi to touch the weapons.

Rebels carrying small arms and some truck-mounted artillery guns stormed the base at midnight, driving out the government’s soldiers in less than half an hour. Many of the weapons in the cache had already been wrecked by NATO airstrikes, but rebels said the ammunition was largely salvageable. Meanwhile, Britain confirmed that rebel groups have received a big dollop of international aid, with the first $100 million arriving last week, according to the AP. (More Libya stories.)