Controversy over news of Gaddafi's son's death

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said it could not confirm whether Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Khamis was dead.in the airstrike of this force on August 4 or not.

“We have no information to confirm this,” said NATO Foreign Minister Christine Fages, after Libyan rebels claimed that a NATO attack on the town center of Zliten had killed a total of 32 people, including Khamis.

Rebel spokesman Mohammed Zawawi said the information was based on intelligence gathered from phone calls within Gaddafi's forces. However, there has been no independent confirmation of Khamis' death, and such rumors have appeared many times during the five-month war in Libya.

If Khamis is confirmed dead, it would be a major blow to Gaddafi’s military and regime. The leader’s 28-year-old son, who was trained in Russia, commands one of the Libyan regime’s most elite forces, the 32nd Brigade.

At the time of the NATO airstrike, the brigade was launching attacks to regain control of the city of Zlitan from anti-government forces.

The Libyan government later also denied the information that Khamis had died, saying that it was "filthy fabrications to cover up the killing of civilians."

Saif al-Arab, the youngest son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. (Photo: Daily Mail)

So far, the Libyan government has only confirmed the death of Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, who was killed in a NATO airstrike on Gaddafi's compound on April 30. The airstrike also killed three of Gaddafi's grandchildren.

Afterwards, the Libyan government also held a solemn funeral for Saif al-Arab, but without the participation of Mr. Gaddafi, giving rise to rumors that this leader may have also died in the above airstrike.

However, Gaddafi continued to appear on television many times afterwards, vowing to “fight to the last breath.”

Mr. Gaddafi has 2 wives and 8 children, including 7 boys and 1 girl. Of these, only Mohammed is his son with his first wife, but only holds the position of President of the Libyan Olympic Committee.

His eldest son with his second wife (Safia, who was of Hungarian descent), Seif al-Islam, was considered his father's successor. But Seif al-Islam had reformist ideas and had advised Gaddafi to leave power.

Seif al-Islam's two brothers, Mustassim Billah and Khamis, also held important roles in Gaddafi's government, with Mustassim Billah, the national security adviser, said to be secretly competing with his brother.

According to VNA