While the Libyan national army is rebuilding, the country is relying in part on ill-trained tribal militias rife with grievances, feuds and agendas. This volatile mix holds sway in the country’s southwest and in the northeast, where last year militants killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, and trafficked guns and missiles to extremists in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip.

“Our concern is the Mali situation coming here,” said Fathallah Ali, assistant to the president of the local council in Sabha. “Much of the sophisticated and heavy weaponry looted from Kadafi’s military went to Islamic militants there and other parts of Africa. Al Qaeda is moving in this direction.”

Even under Kadafi, the nation produced Islamic militants who reached well beyond the country’s borders. Libyan extremists are now connected to an Al Qaeda branch in Algeria, rebels in Syria and the fighters trying to establish an Islamic caliphate in Mali. Security officials also are concerned about reports of militant training camps with caches of weapons hidden in the desert south of Sabha.