In reality, Gibril (also spelled Jabril) is in control of nothing, apparently not even his own rebel forces, and stunts such as landing in Tripoli are desperate ploys to portray a sense of strength and resolve to garner continued "international support" as NATO's deadline quickly approaches. Libya's rebellion, despite the corporate-media's disingenuous presentation, is divided along tribal and ethnic lines, with most of Libya's rebels being motivated, not by aspirations for liberal-democracy, but rather by ideological extremism cultivated over the last 30 years by US and British intelligence in the eastern cities of Darnah and Benghazi. As NATO enables these violent ideologues to expand their control over the country, they are systematically committing war crimes including large-scale theft and looting, exiling entire civilian populations from cities, and wholesale genocide. They are also reportedly turning their weapons on one another.
Despite heavy, and quite obviously indiscriminate bombing by NATO for the better part of two weeks, resistance in these two cities is still fierce enough to keep the rebels well at bay. It is quite apparent that initial reports by Gabril's "NTC" that only 60-150 Qaddafi fighters remained in Bani Walid, were yet another lie and that the entire city's civilian population is putting up resistance. The number of "resisters" has gone up piecemeal as the rebel operation drags on, with the number of "Qaddafi soldiers" fighting in Bani Walid well past 1,000 now.
