“Are they really mercs?”
Most likely. Khaddafi had hired literally thousands of mercenaries for protection. His ace in the hole was his southern mercenary army. Additional freelance mercs were scattered around Libya.
After Khaddafi ordered his regular army to shoot libyans, about 75% of the army deserted and headed back to their provinces to protect their families. All the armories were raided and emptied. The army deserters linked up with provincial militias and set up a plan to eliminate Khaddafi’s mercenaries, after the mercs shot up a college campus. The shooting enraged the Libyans.
The mercs were hunted down like rabid dogs and were mostly shot. Some were tortured and hanged and shoveled into open pit mass graves. We were doing contract work for an Israeli company during the Libyan civil war and had access to videos. The anti-merc operation was gruesome. Thousands of mercenaries were swallowed up by the Libyan sand and were never seen again.
IMO, the Libyans wanted to send a message to middle eastern and European powers to keep their proxy mercs out of Libya’s business.
WoW! If you can post videos somehow it would be great!