CIA Undercover Agents Operate in Libya - Report

Rebel fighters receive training on how to use a hand grenade at a military camp in Benghazi, eastern Libya, 30 March 2011. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The CIA has sent undercover agents to provide intelligence from Libya after the agency's office in Tripoli was forced to close, according to a statement by an intelligence official.

The teams of operatives have also helped rescue a crew member of a US fighter jet that crashed, ABC News reported on Thursday.

The senior official has stated that the US view the Libyan rebels as poorly equipped and incapable of prevailing without decisive Western intervention.

The CIA's exact role in Libya is not clear yet. According to the intelligence expert, the agency have sent officials to make contact with the opposition and to increase the "military and political understanding" in case US President Barack Obama decides to arm them.

"Yes, we are gathering intel firsthand and we are in contact with some opposition entities," the source said, as cited by CNN.

Obama said on Wednesday that he is neither ruling out, nor ruling in potential arming of the Libyan rebels.

The intelligence official said that some CIA agents had been staging from the agency's station in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

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