{"id":397187,"date":"2011-04-25T14:42:53","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T14:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/25\/in-benghazi-rebels-turn-waste-into-weapons\/"},"modified":"2011-04-25T14:42:53","modified_gmt":"2011-04-25T14:42:53","slug":"in-benghazi-rebels-turn-waste-into-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/in-benghazi-rebels-turn-waste-into-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"In Benghazi, rebels turn waste into weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Libya’s volunteer weapons makers<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  • About 200 men volunteer at a makeshift weapons factory<\/li>\n
  • They weld together arms out of spare parts for the rebels<\/li>\n
  • Many are soldiers who defected, but others are newcomers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    Benghazi, Libya (CNN)<\/strong> — Two months ago, Massoud Ojeli was in college, studying English — but now, he works at a secret makeshift weapons factory in Libya, welding together spare parts to make arms for the country’s opposition forces.<\/p>\n

    “It’s a very weird feeling, but I’m proud of this,” the 20-year-old Ojeli says with a smile, in between his work crafting rocket launchers in a hot concrete warehouse space in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.<\/p>\n

    The rebels granted CNN rare access to a place where elbow grease and ingenuity turn damaged and dented old weapons into rough-and-ready killing machines.<\/p>\n

    About 200 men volunteer at the factory, arriving around 8 a.m. and leaving around 3 p.m., when the sun is hottest over the dusty landscape.<\/p>\n

    They don’t get paid, but there is no shortage of help. Ojeli’s father volunteers at the factory, too, and his two little brothers hang around to offer moral support.<\/p>\n

    “I do this for my country,” Ojeli says.<\/p>\n

    Many of the men are soldiers who have defected from the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but others are newcomers.<\/p>\n

    Asked whether he knows what he’s doing at the weapons factory, Rami Tarhouni smiles and laughs.<\/p>\n

    “I don’t have idea,” he says. “I don’t have idea, but I’m trying.”<\/p>\n

    A few weeks ago, Tarhouni was an insurance agent. Another volunteer, Ali Abdul Salam, was in pharmaceuticals. He flashes a victory sign.<\/p>\n

    “People who’ve never seen weapons in their lives are making them from nothing,” says Col. Mohammed Algarobelli, who says he defected from Gadhafi’s air force.<\/p>\n

    In one part of the factory is an old weapons pod from an old jet fighter. By the time they’re done with it — if all goes well — the volunteers will have turned it into 32 shoulder-fired missile launchers.<\/p>\n

    Elsewhere, Soviet-era rocket launchers are broken up to fit on smaller vehicles like pickup trucks to go to the front lines.<\/p>\n

    Using whatever they can get their hands on can pay off in a place like this; a panel fitted with household light switches is used to launch the rockets from the back of the trucks. There’s never a guarantee of success, however.<\/p>\n

    “Sometimes we have something that doesn’t work,” Ojeli admits.<\/p>\n

    He says if he had his way, Gadhafi would be gone and he could go back to college. Until then, he says, he’s keeping his new job.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Libya’s volunteer weapons makers STORY HIGHLIGHTS About 200 men volunteer at a makeshift weapons factory They weld together arms out of spare parts for the rebels Many are soldiers who defected, but others are newcomers Benghazi, Libya (CNN) — Two months ago, Massoud Ojeli was in college, studying English — but now, he works at a secret makeshift weapons factory in Libya, welding together spare parts to make arms for the country’s opposition forces. “It’s a very weird feeling, but I’m proud of this,” the 20-year-old Ojeli says with a smile, in between his work crafting rocket launchers in a hot concrete warehouse space in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":397188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-397187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\nIn Benghazi, rebels turn waste into weapons - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/in-benghazi-rebels-turn-waste-into-weapons\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"In Benghazi, rebels turn waste into weapons - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Libya's volunteer weapons makers STORY HIGHLIGHTS About 200 men volunteer at a makeshift weapons factory They weld together arms out of spare parts for the rebels Many are soldiers who defected, but others are newcomers Benghazi, Libya (CNN) -- Two months ago, Massoud Ojeli was in college, studying English -- but now, he works at a secret makeshift weapons factory in Libya, welding together spare parts to make arms for the country's opposition forces. 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