Qaddafi has no fear of sanctions. His vast assets are mostly deposited safely in Libyan banks which he controls and he is heavily staked in European industry, banking, media and weapons industries.

Muammar Qaddafi succeeded Wednesday, Feb. 23, in clearing the streets of Tripoli and southern and western Libya of demonstrations against his rule – partly by threats and partly thanks to American and European failure to put up a military or diplomatic strategy for cutting him down. For now, he has firmed up his control in those areas.

The US State Department was "looking at" possible sanctions against the Qaddafi regime, but there were no specifics.

In its latest issue out Friday, DEBKA-Net-Weekly outlines Muammar Qaddafi's war plans for his opponents – at home and abroad. With a war chest stuffed with petrodollars, the Libyan ruler is capable of venting his fury by making a bonfire of oil and gas pipelines and facilities across the Middle East.
This special issue also contained a behind-the-scenes survey of the crises bedeviling Middle East regimes or looming over them – with a close-up of Saudi Arabia.

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In a long, fiery speech broadcast by Libyan state TV Tuesday, Feb. 22, Libya's ruler Col. Muammar Qaddafi declared war on his enemies at home and abroad. He accused the Cyrenaicans of the East of conspiring to establish an Al Qaeda emirate that would bring the Americans over and create the same situation in Libya as in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Straight after his speech, Tripoli announced that Libyan oil and gas exports were blocked to Europe, causing pandemonium and Libyan missile ships began pounding Benghazi from the sea.

Muammar Qaddafi's 42-year rule of Libya appeared to have begun disintegrating Monday, Feb. 21, as civil war swept the country with no sign of him quitting. Instead, he ordered the army to redouble its brutal assaults on the opposition. The Air Force began bombing crowds at random – except for pilots who preferred to defect and fled with their warplanes to Malta - while army tanks and armored vehicles fired live ammunition.  The day's casualties were estimated at 600, with 250 in Tripoli.