Libya, which signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2004, has destroyed 55 percent of its mustard gas stockpiles but still possesses some 11.25 tonnes, said Michael Luhan of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi committed to destroying the mustard gas, which can produce severe chemical burns to the eyes, skin and lungs, as part of an effort to end his diplomatic isolation several years ago.

Luhan, whose international group works with the United Nations to monitor the treaty, said Libya began eliminating its mustard gas stockpiles in early 2010 as scheduled and had continued to do so until unrest broke out in the north African nation last month.

Tripoli has also destroyed 556 tonnes of the precursor chemicals used to make mustard gas, according to the watchdog.

Luhan said that in early 2004, Libya also eliminated more than 3,500 munitions that could be used to deliver the chemical, including bombs and missiles.

As a result, "Libya's former chemical weapons production facility has been irreversibly converted for uses not prohibited by the convention," the organization said.

US military officials say the remaining chemical weapons at a site may still pose a threat.

"We believe that it's secure," said Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman. "Even if not weaponized, there's still a threat, but it's a smaller threat than if it is weaponized."

earlier related report
Fighting shifting in Kadhafi's favor: US intel
Washington (AFP) March 10, 2011 - The momentum in the Libyan conflict is shifting in favor of Moamer Kadhafi whose forces are "robustly equipped" with Russian weapons and may well defeat the rebels, US officials said Thursday.

And US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also warned of the danger that Libya could fracture into separate smaller states, run by different tribal factions including those loyal to Kadhafi.

"Initially the momentum was with the other side," Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told US senators at a hearing.

"That has started to shift. Whether or not it has fully moved to Kadhafi's side at this time is not clear. We have now reached a state of equilibrium. The initiative may actually be on the regime side."

The rebels seized the initiative when fighting first erupted in February in the wake of similar uprisings in Libya's neighbors, Tunisia and Egypt.

But three weeks on, Kadhafi's son Thursday crowed that victory was in sight after loyalist forces re-captured Zawiyah, near Tripoli, and were also at the doors of the strategic eastern oil refinery town of Ras Lanouf.

"Over time I think the regime will prevail," acknowledged Clapper. "With respect to the rebels in Libya, and whether or not they will succeed or not, I think frankly they're in for a tough row."

Clapper added he did not believe Kadhafi, who has earned a reputation as a maverick, planned to step down after more than four decades in power.

"I don't think he has any intention of leaving," Clapper said. "From all evidence that we have, which I'd be prepared to discuss in closed session, he appears to be hunkering down for the duration."

Eyeing the future, Clapper said there was a real possibility of "a reversion to the pre-Kadhafi, pre-king history of Libya in which there were three sort of semi-autonomous mini-states.

"You could end up with a situation where Kadhafi would have Tripoli and its environs and then Benghazi and its environs could be under another mini-state and then there was another," he argued.

"There's a lot of history here with the tribes and the tribal dynamics would have to be factored in here. So you could have an outcome where you'd have both parties survive."

Libyan air defenses, including radar and surface-to-air missiles, are "quite substantial," Clapper explained.

"A very important consideration here for the regime is, by design, Kadhafi intentionally designed the military so that those select units willed to him are the most luxuriously equipped and the best trained."

The Libyan arsenal, Clapper said, "is the second largest in the Middle East after Egypt."

"They have a lot of Russian equipment. There is a certain quality and numbers," Clapper told the Senate's Armed Services Committee.

He said there were two special brigades, the 32nd and the 9th, that are very loyal to Kadhafi, and were the most "robustly equipped with Russian equipment to include air defense, artillery, tanks, mechanized equipment."

However, "some of that equipment has fallen into opposition's hands," Clapper said, adding that there is also concern that some of the more portable weaponry runs the risk of "falling into the wrong hands," meaning Al-Qaeda and other terror groups.

As the West debates whether to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to help the opposition who have taken a pounding from air strikes, Clapper said Libya had some 31 anti-aircraft sites and radar dedicated to protecting the northern Libyan coast where 80 to 85 percent of the population is concentrated.

He said the Libyan forces had a large number of missile launchers, but stressed that only a small part of the Libyan air force was operational with only about 75 to 80 aircraft, a third of which were transport planes and a third helicopters.

Clapper offered hope, though, that despite the sustained air attacks which have caused damage "they have not caused very many casualties."

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