The young men then turned serious as the instructor moved on to the military tactics that might save their lives and defeat the enemy if they ever get to fight the forces of strongman Moamer Kadhafi.

Hundreds of youths are turning up every morning at this army base on the edge of Benghazi, the capital of the rebel-held east, to try and transform their enthusiasm into military expertise and face off an enemy whose territory begins 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of here.

"It's like trying to turn chaos into order. It's quite a challenge," said a European military official in Benghazi, who asked not to be named.

France, Britain and Italy each have about ten military advisors in Benghazi who are working with senior rebel commanders to set up a military headquarters and draw up a strategy for the uprising dubbed the February 17 Revolution.

But the Europeans are so far not getting involved in training the youngsters who, mostly without any military experience, had battled Kadhafi forces on a seesawing frontline that finally settled outside Ajdabiya about two weeks ago.

As NATO keeps up its bombardment of Kadhafi's forces and military infrastructure in the west, the bulk of fighting is now concentrated on Misrata.

Hundreds have died over the last two months in that city, the last major rebel bastion in western Libya, which is surrounded by pro-Kadhafi forces and is entirely dependent on supply by sea.

The stalemate on the frontline in the east is giving the rebels time to regroup, strategise and train the young men who desperately want to bring an end to rule of a man who has been in power since long before they were born.

"My goal is to give something to my country," said 20-year-old medical student Husssam El-Shemi, who said he had rushed to the front in Ajdabiya and Brega in late March, but without a gun.

Now after a month's training, he said, "I know how to fire a Kalashnikov, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and I've been shown how to handle anti-aircraft guns."

In a nearby yard on Monday, mechanics worked to fix up weapons seized from Kadhafi's army, while on a dusty parade ground a group of 30 recruits sat and listened to tips on the use of grenade launchers.

"This weapon can be used against tanks and armoured personnel carriers. You can also use it against buildings if there are soldiers inside," explained an instructor at this base, one of several training camps in the city.

One young man, dressed like most of the recruits in jeans and a T-shirt, broke off from the group to explain that he was a chemistry student and had given his colleagues lessons on how to handle dynamite and other explosives.

"I looked it up on the internet," said Hamad Mohamed, 21, before whipping out his mobile phone to show a video of himself driving a Russian tank which rebels had seized.

Tank-driving was another military skill he had gleaned from Google, he said with a grin.

Commanders here say they are impressed by the morale and enthusiasm of their young recruits but that the big problem is weapons, which the Western states providing air power are reluctant to supply for fear they might later fall into the wrong hands.

"There are a lot of volunteers but not enough weapons. This is a big problem," said Mohamed al-Abar, a former soldier in Kadhafi's army which now helping train recruits.

The rebels have Kalashnikovs, rockets and mortars and lots of anti-aircraft guns which they mount on the backs of pick-up trucks and use to attack targets on the ground. But they have little artillery or other heavy weapons.

There are few hard figures on the size of the rebel army, but reports suggest that it consists of a core of more than 1,000 properly trained soldiers -- who defected from Kadhafi's military -- alongside thousands of green volunteers.

Abar said that last week six groups of around 100 volunteers graduated here -- after 10 days of training --- and went to the front in Ajdabiya or to join defensive units around Benghazi.

Will they be good fighters? "Inshallah!" (God willing!), he replied.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News