Libya's rebel government said late yesterday that Italy has agreed to supply it with weapons to fight against Muammar Gaddafi, but government sources in Rome said only "self-defence material" would be sent.
"They will supply us with arms and we will receive them very soon," Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, the vice chairman of the National Transitional Council, told reporters in the rebel capital Benghazi.
Ghoga said military officers from the rebel council had travelled to Italy, Libya's former colonial ruler, and reached an agreement with officials there for the supply of arms.
He gave no details on what weapons would be supplied.
If the arms supply goes ahead, that would make Italy the first European nation to provide weapons to the badly-armed and poorly-trained rebel force that has led the fight against Gaddafi since the uprising began in mid-February.
Foreign ministry sources in Rome said Saturday that Italy has agreed to send "self-defence material" to the rebels following agreements last month within the framework of UN Security Council resolution 1973.
They said these would not be assault weapons but gave no further details.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said last month during a visit to Rome by NTC chairman Mahmud Jibril that Italy was thinking of sending "night-vision equipment, radars and technology to block communications."
Italy, France and Britain have each sent a small number of military advisors to Benghazi to help organise the ragtag rebel force.
Rome last month said it wanted the international community to consider arming the rebels under UN Resolution 1973, which authorised the use of all means to defend civilians.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister David Cameron have both said they believe UN resolutions on Libya allow arming the rebels.
But other nations in the NATO alliance that is enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya and bombing Gaddafi's military have opposed arming the rebels.
Belgium came out against the idea and Germany has insisted there could be "no military solution" in Libya.
China and Russia, which hold permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, have argued that NATO's bombing campaign may already be stretching its UN mandate.
The head of the rebel council said last month that "friends" had already supplied the insurgents with arms, without saying which countries had done so or what weapons they had provided.
Russia had been a traditional supplier for Libya since Soviet times but the lifting of a previous European Union arms embargo in 2004 opened up a new market to European contractors, who rushed into the oil-rich North African state.
The most vocal backer of lifting the embargo was Italy, which quickly became one of the top European arms suppliers to the Gaddafi regime before the uprising began in February.